Network analysis of the spatial organization of rural tourism destinations in Shabestar city

Tourism destinations as a spatial phenomenon are an important part of the tourism system and the product of the interaction between natural-ecological and human-cultural factors. Therefore, in order to effectively use the capabilities and capacities of tourism for the sustainable development of tourism, regulating the flows Space in the form of relationships and connections is essential for the optimal spatial organization of destinations. In this regard, the analysis of the spatial organization of rural tourism destinations with the approach of network analysis and based on the attraction model was chosen as the goal of this study. The research method in this article is quantitative (descriptiveanalytical). The statistical population of the research is 73 villages of Shabstar city, which were fully investigated. The main data of the research (attractions of villages, amenities-infrastructure, and distance between villages) were collected by documentary method (referring to Cultural Heritage Department and Iran Statistics Center) and field. To analyze the distances between villages, the network analysis method in Geographical Information System (GIS) was used, and social network analysis and ucinet software were used to construct the proximity matrix with the aim of calculating the centrality analysis indicators of the rural tourism destinations of Shabstar city. The results showed that the spatial organization of Shabestar city has many centers with the spatial role of tourism. This feature has caused the spatial pattern of tourist destinations to follow the multicentered pattern. In this pattern, the villages of Nazarlu, Dizj Khalil and Amir Zikri are the most important villages with centers. As tourist destinations. Also, from the methodological aspect, the network analysis approach has good capacities for analyzing the spatial network, especially tourist destinations, so that the application of this model along with other models such as attraction, analysis of characteristics and distances of tourist destinations In a combined form, it shows a suitable potential for analyzing similar issues in research.