Investigating the impact of Destination Branding on Development of Rural Tourism (Saravan Village, Gilan)

Strategic rural tourism is very important to strengthen local communities in rural areas. therfore, rural development and tourism planners rely on new tools to achieve this objective.Rural planning strategies have emphasized and taken steps to use new concepts such as destination branding. The present study examines the importance and impact of destination branding on the development of rural tourism. Not mush studies has been conducted in Iran on the captined topic, especially in the northern regions of the country which have great potentials for rural tourism development. The village of Saravan in Gilan Province, as one of the most attractive destination for domestic and international tourism needs to expand tourism activities and identify the components of tourism branding.This study, using qualitative methods and content analysis, intends to investigate the effect of destination branding on tourism development in the village of Saravan. The research method was qualitative and the statistical population of the study consisted of tourism experts, specialists and university professors and tourists (as the main consumers of the products and provided services). MAXQDA software was used for data analysis. According to the software output and research results, the criteria were identified in three sections, including social and cultural sustainability, economic development and sustainability, and environmental factors. Based on the qualitative analysis, this study further discusses the research path and proposals for future research works.