Ecolodge Tourism Dynamics: A Village-Level Analysis of Marketing and Policy Indicators in Iran’s Hawraman Region

Mehdi Pourtaheri (), Zabih-Allah Torabi, Amir Reza Khavarian-Garmsir, Saeed Sajadi and Colin Micheal Hall
Additional contact information
Mehdi Pourtaheri: Department of Geography and Rural Planning, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran 1411713116, Iran
Zabih-Allah Torabi: Department of Geography and Rural Planning, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran 1411713116, Iran
Amir Reza Khavarian-Garmsir: Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Geographical Sciences and Planning, University of Isfahan, Isfahan 8174673441, Iran
Saeed Sajadi: Department of Geography and Rural Planning, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran 1411713116, Iran
Colin Micheal Hall: Department of Management, Marketing, and Tourism, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 12, 1-29

Abstract: Despite growing interest in community-based ecotourism as a pathway to sustainable development, there is a critical lack of research on how localized configurations of marketing and policy factors shape ecolodge performance at the village level. This study addresses this gap by pioneering a comprehensive, contextually grounded analysis of the availability and desirability of key marketing and policy indicators across 25 rural villages in Iran’s culturally and ecologically rich Hawraman region. By employing an innovative mixed-methods approach blending statistical analysis, GIS spatial modeling, surveys, and interviews, the research reveals striking heterogeneity in ecolodge constraints and opportunities, even within a localized setting. Spatial analysis uncovers distance decay effects, with peripheral villages facing exacerbated accessibility deficits compared to centrally located ones. Substantial variations in marketing effectiveness and governance capacities underscore the inadequacy of one-size-fits-all tourism planning. The findings make a novel contribution by demonstrating the imperative for transitioning from monolithic interventions to hyper-localized, place-based strategies tailored to each village’s unique barrier and asset profiles. Embracing this paradigm shift promises to enhance the equity and sustainability of ecolodge tourism in rural contexts globally. The study provides an original methodological blueprint for harnessing multi-modal diagnostics to unpack complex tourism dynamics and catalyze transformative, community-centric solutions.

Keywords: ecolodge; spatial analysis; local governance; rural marketing; Hawraman region (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/12/5072/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/12/5072/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:12:p:5072-:d:1415147

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().