A Model for Sport Tourism Development with Emphasis on Natural Resources (Case Study: Lorestan Province)

The research is to design a model for developing sports tourism with emphasis on natural factors in Lorestan Province. The research method was a descriptive- survey based on structural equation modeling and in terms of purpose was applied research that was conducted in the field. In this study, after determining the research model, all tourists in lorestan province were selected as the population and according to the Cochran formula and cluster sampling, method 384 people were selected as the research samples. Data collection tools in this study were based on experts ' opinions including 4 dimensions. The natural factors studied in this study include infrastructure, natural attractions, ecology and proper sport activity with the nature of lorestan province. In terms of formal validity and content validity, professors and experts approved the questionnaires. Using cronbach's alpha coefficient the reliability, the construction dimensions was 0/96, natural attractions were 0/95, ecology was 0/90 and sports activity was 0/95 To analyze the data, table of descriptive statistics, chart, mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics, skewness and kurtosis, and Swara and structural equation model were used.The results obtained from T-test showed that the natural factors investigated in this study were respectively infrastructure (23/862), natural attractions (20/928), ecology (27/907), and appropriate sport activity with the nature of Lorestan Province (22/374) Which are of a significant effect on the development of sport tourism in lorestan province.  In coclusion, authorities must draw their attention to all of the natural factors’ variables in order to desighn developing tourism model.