Stakeholders’ Analysis of Sustainable Development of Agricultural Tourism in the West of Mazandaran Province

Sustainable development of Agri-tourism is a solution for the optimal use of the tourism industry. But one of the main reasons for the non-implementation of development policies is the lack of necessary mechanisms to identify and analyze the many stakeholders that should be in a participatory process for sustainable management of Agri-tourism development. The present mixed study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the stakeholders of sustainable development of Agri-tourism in the west of Mazandaran Province. In order to identify these stakeholders, the stakeholders’ information was collected from experts in the field of agricultural tourism. After interviewing 17 of them and during four Delphi stages, 25 people were identified as stakeholders of sustainable development of Agri-tourism and using a semi-structured interview with two representatives of each stakeholder group (50 interviews in total), it was determined how to exercise the power of the stakeholders according to the type of their benefit. Based on the results, the main stakeholders in the sustainable development of agricultural tourism were mostly government organization, including the Agriculture Jihad Organization, Cultural Heritage Organization, Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization and Environment Protection Organization, which in terms of five types of legal power, knowledge power, economic power, political power and social power were in a higher position. The proposed classification can be used to create capacity, promote participation and interaction among stakeholders according to the type of power and benefit in the process of sustainable development of Agri-tourism.