The effects of agricultural rituals on tourism development in Iran

Agriculture is one of the most important and difficult professions in the traditional society of Iran, the special difficulties of which have been turned into a pleasant thing by holding rituals (Shayesteh Rokh, 2013).
These rituals in the form of agricultural heritage include tangible and intangible aspects. Although it is difficult to distinguish between the tangible and the tangible, the tangible aspect of agricultural heritage can be the debate over the natural landscapes of agricultural and rural environments, indigenous buildings and settlements, the traditional agricultural implements used, and indigenous water supply systems. And in the intangible or spiritual aspect of agricultural heritage, he also referred to all the customs, traditions, and celebrations related to agriculture, arts, indigenous knowledge used to carry out agricultural activities, and so on (Nuryant, 1999).
Iran is a multicultural country where the existence of patterns and diversity of rituals, language, clothing and food, diversity of music and oral literature, handicrafts and handicrafts, etc. in different regions has given double value to Iran's cultural heritage. It is possible to attract many domestic and international tourists and become a source of income for the residents of the country's tourist destinations (Saghaei and Khoshebst, 2016). Due to the dominance of post-tourism tourism as a dynamic process of trade based on supply and demand, this issue has led to the reproduction of different types of product production in different destinations (Saghaei and Javanbakht Ghahfarkhi, 2012). In the meantime, agricultural rituals can be considered as one of the tourist attractions of the country due to its diversity, antiquity, popularity and other special features. Therefore, in the present study, it seeks to investigate the effects of agricultural rituals on tourism development in Iran.

The present study is a survey in terms of data collection and descriptive-analytical in terms of type of analysis and its results have a practical aspect. To evaluate and evaluate the role of agricultural rituals in the development of sustainable tourism, a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire has been used. The questionnaire questions are designed in four sections (economic, social and cultural, environmental, physical and institutional), which are inserted in each section according to the questions related to each index. The information obtained from these questionnaires was quantitatively entered into SPSS software to first check the Cronbach's alpha value to confirm the accuracy of the questionnaire, which with a value of 0.97 indicates a good and reliable internal validity of the questionnaire questions. Then, using binomial tests, correlation and Friedman analyzed the findings. The statistical population was experts in various fields such as sociology, geography, Iranology, history, etc., 130 people were identified by snowball method and invited to participate in the research. Due to the epidemic of Covid 19 and in order to benefit from new survey tools in this study, an online questionnaire has been used.

Results and discussion:

Due to the use of non-parametric tests for data analysis, in this part, a binomial test was used. The results are presented in Table 1. It can be seen that all items are economically significant. In general, 78% of experts believe that paying attention to agricultural rituals in the context of ritual tourism can lead to diversification of local employment, which can be mentioned as one of the most important and effective effects of agricultural rituals. In tourism planning, a package of tourism products with a strong core should be provided for tourist destinations. By attracting tourism to destinations due to the main and primary attractions, other options and products should be offered to the tourist to ensure both the tourist's satisfaction and the benefit of the local community. For one or more types of local food, tourism may not be willing to travel to a specific village, but if other strong attractions such as agricultural rituals are at the core, then other products such as local food, accommodation, handicrafts, agricultural products, etc. are offered. There are two main pillars of sustainable tourism, namely the economic benefits of the local community and the satisfaction of tourists. On the other hand, agricultural rituals themselves are a kind of education about the process of farmers' life, which is another basic basis of sustainability. Due to the nature-oriented and valuable value of the environment in agricultural rituals, if properly planned, another aspect of sustainability, namely environmental protection, will be achieved.

Conclusion:
Agricultural rituals can move other tourism sources towards attraction and productivity. This leads to diversification of local employment.
Tourism can solve some of the economic problems, including employment and income. In general, agricultural rituals cause the revitalization of the village in the sense of its totality, ie the human environment and common activities in it. Perhaps one of the most important effects of agricultural rituals in the environmental and physical component is that paying attention to agricultural rituals in rural and suburban areas, by diversifying the income sources of villagers, reduces the relationship and utilization of natural resources. This issue has a history and is known in the world and even in our country. As described in the first part of this chapter, many of the rituals of agriculture are the result of respect for nature and gratitude to the Creator for the proper use of resources. In this regard, paying attention to agricultural rituals in rural and suburban areas, holding agricultural rituals and the presence of tourists and familiarity with rural culture and traditions in a way strengthens these environmentally friendly cultures, which has a great impact on the environmental aspect of sustainability. has it. On the other hand, because rituals have a popular foundation and will not have identity and originality without the presence of the local community; Paying attention to agricultural rituals in rural and suburban areas, strengthens the local participation of ordinary people, rural officials such as councils and villagers, local NGOs, etc., which in itself strengthens the institutional and managerial component at the micro level of society.