Investigating the environmental status of urban tourism using ecological footprint method (case study: Rasht city)

Cities have always been regarded as a tourism destination for having natural, cultural, and human _made attractions. Tourism, like any other activity, does have many consequences on the ecological environment of cities. The city of Rasht attracts many tourists every year due to its central location and for having natural, cultural, and man-made attractions. The aim of current study is to investigate the environmental status of tourism on the ecological environment of Rasht. This research also intends to respond this question if this space capable of meeting the current needs of urban tourism? The research is based on the descriptive-analytical method and using ecological foot print model. The statistical population of the study consisted of the number of tourists in Rahst city. Therefore, 384 questionnaires were distributed among the tourists according to the Cochran model through two regular and random sampling methods. Eventually, the ecological footprint of tourism was calculated to be 908224 hectares. Considering the area of 13600 hectares of Rasht, the incoming pressure on the city’s environment can be observed clearly. Thus, planning to the persevere ecosystem of the city along with the attention to the tourism is a vital issue.