PRIORITIZING EFFECTIVE FACTORS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL TOURISM IN ILAM PROVINCE USING THE FUZZY VIKOR METHOD

Abstract

Ilam province has the best tourism villages in the field of tourism. Tourism development in these villages, in addition to having a relatively long history, is very intense and crowded, especially in certain seasons of the year. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of prioritizing the effective factors in the development of rural tourism in Ilam province using the fuzzy VIKOR method. The approach of this research is a mixed exploratory (qualitative-quantitative) approach. The data collection method in this study is library and field. The statistical population in the qualitative stage was 15 experts selected by the snowball method, and in the quantitative stage, 384 heads of rural households were determined as the sample size using the Cochran formula and stratified sampling method. The research questionnaire was researcher-made and confirmed with a Cronbach's alpha reliability of 0.93. The findings indicated that 5 main categories and 20 subcategories were identified as effective factors in the development of rural tourism in Ilam province. Also, the results showed that, using the fuzzy VIKOR technique, adequate supervision and effective control levers regarding improvement, repair and maintenance have obtained the first rank. Business prosperity with the development of commercial tourism and education and generalization of communication methods in tourist areas have obtained the second rank and the ideology governing the society (beliefs, convictions) in the formation of types of tourism have obtained the third rank.