Investigating the Social, Cultural, and Environmental Consequences of Tourism Development from the Host Community Perspective: A Case Study of Darband and Darakeh Neighborhoods of Tehran, Iran

This study sought to investigate the social, cultural, and environmental consequences of tourism development from the perspective of the host community in the Darband and Darake neighborhoods of Tehran using a qualitative approach. To this end, some eighteen people, including the owners of catering units, local officials, and residents of the neighborhoods were selected as the sample size via purposive sampling. The required data were collected through semi-structured interviews, participatory and non-participatory observation, which were then analyzed using content analysis. Finally, the analyzed data were categorized into 167 concepts, 17 subcategories, and four main categories. The findings of the study indicated that tourism development had brought about similar consequences for the studied neighborhoods (with slight differences) due to their similarity in terms of geographical location and existing attractions. Accordingly, tourism has, from the economic viewpoint, increased the revenues of the neighborhoods’ residents, boosted job opportunities, and changed the income resources. However, it paved the ground for some restaurant owners’ exploitation of foreign tourists and provided the traffic warden with false income. On the other hand, while the expansion of social interactions, the prevalence of some social anomalies, immigrant reception, and overcrowding were identified as the social consequences of tourism development in Darband and Darake neighborhoods, the development of cultural exchanges and learning English as a second language were found as the cultural consequences of such a development, contributing to cultural conflicts between the host and guest communities. Finally, environmental pollution, damages incurred to vegetation and wildlife, physical and land use changes, and the efforts made to increase the number of restaurants and improve their quality were identified as the main environmental consequences of tourism development in the neighborhoods mentioned above.