ABSTRACT
This study aims to examine three dimensions of development, namely, economic, environment, and social-cultural issues caused by religious tourism in Mashhad. A quantitative method used to investigate 288 residents’ perceptions who are settled around the Imam Reza holly shrine. Mean and standard division of the variable is calculated to understated to what extend respondents are agreed about positive impacts of religious tourism in terms of economic, environment, and social-cultural development. ANOVA performed to compare mean scores of economic, environment, and social-cultural dimensions by educational level, income level, and residency lengths. The results show that from perspective of residents, development of religious tourism provides economic contribution in Mashhad. In contrast, negative effects of religious tourism are reported by respondents. According to the findings of the study, there is a census about improvement
of social-cultural issues caused by religious tourism in Mashahd. According to the ANOVA results, respondents with different educational level have significant different perception about economic impacts. Similarly, perception of respondents about economic, environment, and social-cultural effect of religious tourism varies based on income level and lengths of residency.
Keywords: Economic, environment, social-cultural, religious tourism
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT iii
Ã"Z iv
DEDICATION v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vi
LIST OF FIGURES
x
1 INTRODUCTION 1
11 introduction - 1
12 Significance of the topic/problem statement - 2
13 The purpose of study 4
2 LITERATURE REVIEW - 5
21 Tourism development - 5
22 Definitions of tourism and tourism development 7
23 Tourism Trends and Theories 9
24 Tourism types and forms 11
25 Tourism and urban planning 16
26 Different perspectives of tourism development and growth 18
27 Tourism, conflict and public interest - 29
28 Resident’s attitude and tourism planning and development 30
29 Tourism and sustainability concept 34
3 CASE STUDY 35
31 Iran 35
32 Tourism in Iran 38
33 Mashhad as the case of study 44
34 Mashhad’s economy and policies - 47
35 Demography of Mashhad 48
36 Religious tourism in Mashhad 48
4 METHODOLOGY AND DATA ANALYSIS 51
41 Sample and procedure 51
42 Data analysis 52
RESULTS - 53
51 Results of reliability analysis 53
Factor analysis 53
52 Effect of Religious Tourism 55
53 Educational level 57
54 Income level 58
55 Residency lengths - 62
6 CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION 66
61 Main findings - 66
62 Managerial implication 69
63 Limitation and research direction 70
REFERENCES 71
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Result of Cronbach Alpha 52
Table 2: Results of factor analysis 53
Table 3: Average perspective of resident attitude about development dimensions 55
Table 4: Compare mean of residents’ perception with different educational level 56
Table 5: Compare mean of residents’ perception with different income level - 58
Table 6: Compare mean of residents’ perception with different period of residency - 61
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Economic impacts of religious according to educational level 57
Figure 2: Economic impacts of religious according to educational to income level 59
Figure 3: Environment impact of religious tourism according to income level 60
Figure 4: Social-cultural impact of tourism according to income level 60
Figure 5: Economic impact of tourism based on lenghs of residency - 62
Figure 6: Environmental impact of tourism based on lenghts of residency 63
Figure 7: Social-cultural impact of tourism based on time of residency 63
Figure 8: Trend of tourism development based on Butlers life cycle model 67
