Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Dept. Geographical Sciences and Planning, University of Isfahan, Isfahan.
Abstract
In addition to the economic value, agricultural farms and their products can play an important role in tourism, especially in rural areas. This study examines the feasibility of agricultural tourism development in Saffron farms of Tiran-va-Karvan rural areas and attempts to identify and describe its determinants and barriers. The statistical population was the Saffron farmers of the region. The practically experienced Saffron farms tourism, as the dependent variable, and farmers’ individual characteristics, crop’s economic characteristics, and several structural and organizational factors were independent variables of the study, which have evaluated and analyzed through appropriate processing procedures, following the operationalization and data gathering field operations. Based on the results, the limited practically experienced Saffron farms tourism has been positively influenced by factors such as general tourism infrastructures, advertising, demand from local authorities, economic characteristics of the crop, its cultivation history and the level of education of the farmers. Further analysis showed if the region’s potential of Saffron farms tourism, be accompanied by organizational supports and specialized farm amenities as the most important preconditions for farm tourism, and favorable mentalities of farmers to pursue and realize it, will be able to lead the Saffron cultivation system of the region towards the on-farm non-agricultural entrepreneurial activities, especially the tourism, more commercialized and profitable. That way, due to the harvest and post-harvest characteristics of Saffron, the women and even the non-agricultural occupants of the families can have a significant role in this regard.
Keywords
- Agricultural tourism
- Saffron cultivation
- Mentalities
- Structural and organizational Contexts
- Tiran-va-Karvan
Main Subjects
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