The Role of Knowledge-based Tourism in Local communities Development (Case Study: Qeshm Geopark)

geotourism plays an important role in sustainable development through the preservation of native culture and the participation of local communities. Since most geoparks are located in rural areas, it can be said that geotourism is a new move towards rural development. In this paper, the role of geotourism and geopark in the sustainable development of villages of Qeshm Island is studied. Therefore, the present research in terms of purpose is applied, and in terms of method and nature, is descriptive-analytic. The data collection method is based on documentary and survey methods. Data analysis was done using SPSS, Lisrel and GIS software. The statistical population of the study is the households of 20 villages of the island that are located in the area of 23 geosystems Geopark Qeshm. The results of the existing documentary reading show that the growth rate of job opportunities in rural areas of the island have been 2/53 and 4/64 percent in during the years 2006- 2011 and 2011- 2016 , and 28/98 percent of the migration to the villages of Qeshm Island have been with the aim job looking and better job looking. The results of the field study also show that among the three main objectives of the Geopark Global Network, the expansion of geotourism and the establishment of Qeshm geopark has been effective in the conservation of natural and historical heritage, respectively, 98%, in the education and preservation of indigenous culture 84%, and finally in Improving the local community economyhas had an impressive 83%.