Strategic Planning of Sustainable Tourism Development in Tourism Target Villages of Eastern Azarbaijan Province

Introduction
The diversification of rural livelihoods is a common strategy to deal with economic and environmental shocks and is effective in reducing rural poverty in such a way that the positive effects of this diversification include the equality of periods with seasons in terms of employment, reducing vulnerability and risk, employment, rural credit, and financial effects. Therefore, in many countries, tourism is considered one of the main strategies for the livelihood diversification. Tourism accounts for 10.4% of the world's GDP and 10% of global employment. Tourism has one of the biggest contributions to achieving sustainable development, which is primarily due to the dynamism and growth of this sector with direct consequences on the economic development of regions and tourism destinations. In the second place, due to the fact that tourism is based on a direct link between consumers (tourists), industry, environment, and local communities, the development of tourism in developing countries leads to an increase in health and educational services and as a result improves the quality of life of the people and increases social welfare. The decrease in the growth of the agricultural sector in rural areas and the emergence of problems such as climate change indicate the fact that in the future, agricultural development alone will not be able to guarantee economic growth in the country's villages. Therefore, rural development planners have come to the conclusion that diversification from agriculture to non-farm activities in rural areas can be a complementary or alternative strategy to save the agricultural sector and provide a sustainable livelihood for villagers in such a way that the World Bank has invested 46.5 billion dollars to support non-farm activities during the years 2004 to 2014. A look at the state of non-farm employment between 2005 and 2019 confirms that the share of non-farm employment has grown over the past 14 years, which can be seen in different degrees in every region of the world. A review of data between 2005 and 2019 shows how global employment in non-farm activities in rural communities increased by nearly 11 percent as a share of total rural employment and now accounts for half of all rural employment.
Materials and Methods
This research is applied in terms of p  urpose and survey in terms of how to collect data. The statistical population of the research was rural tourism experts and specialists in Eastern Azarbaijan province who had sufficient knowledge and experience in the field of rural tourism (N=101). Thus, the experts of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Eastern Azarbaijan Province, Agriculture-Jahad Organization of Eastern Azarbaijan Province, and villagers and councils were considered as the studied community, which were studied in full. Data collection was based on a field survey using a questionnaire that was designed with 69 items (including 18 strengths, 16 weaknesses, 19 opportunities, and 16 threats) in the form of a five-level Likert scale (five levels from very low=1 to very high=5) and distributed among the respondents. In this study, Cronbach's alpha method was used to measure the reliability of the measurement tool. Cronbach's alpha coefficient fluctuates between zero and one. If the value of Cronbach's alpha is greater than 0.7, the reliability of the measurement tool is considered acceptable. The values of Cronbach's alpha coefficient for each part of the questionnaire were calculated from 0.723 to 0.832. The content validity of the research was also done by asking the opinions of the experts and members of the faculty and university experts. The collected data were analyzed using the SWOT-TOWS technique, and finally, according to the results, strategies were developed and presented for the sustainable development of tourism in the study area. SWOT technique is a tool to identify the threats and opportunities in the external environment of a system and to identify its internal strengths and weaknesses in order to measure the situation and formulate a strategy for guiding and controlling that system. From the point of view of this model, a suitable strategy maximizes strengths and opportunities and reduces weaknesses and threats.
Results and Discussion
In this study, 69% of the respondents were male and 31% were female. The average age of the respondents was 42 years, the youngest was 34 and the oldest was 69. 48.5% of them had a doctorate degree, 31% had a master's degree, 13% had a bachelor's degree, and 7.5% had a postgraduate degree or diploma. The average service experience of the respondents was about 15.8 years. The highest frequency of them was related to the experts of the Cultural Heritage Organization of Handicrafts and Tourism at 66.8%, the Agriculture-Jahad Organization at 21.9%, and the villagers and councils at 11.3%. Although SWOT analysis leads to a comprehensive understanding of the internal and external environment of a phenomenon and defines the strategic space, this matrix does not suggest a strategy to improve the existing situation. The TOWS matrix is a tool that is usually used after the SWOT matrix and helps suggest strategies to improve the current and future situation. The TOWS matrix is widely used to determine strategies. This matrix uses four strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to determine strategies. In the TOWS matrix, four types of strategies WT, ST, WO and SO are made from the interaction of four strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The results of the strategic planning matrix showed that among the formulated strategies, the highest attractiveness is related to the SO strategy with the title of aggressive and based on the use of competitive advantages with a score of 3.65, and the lowest attractiveness is the WT strategy with the title of defensive and based on eliminating the vulnerability of the studied area is assigned with a score of 1.31. Therefore, according to the results, the strategy of the studied villages  is an offensive strategy (SO). In the form of aggressive strategies, efforts will be made to maximize the use of opportunities by making use of capabilities by presenting suggestions and possible solutions.
Conclusions
Based on the results of this research, the most important strategies for sustainable development of tourism in the target villages of Eastern Azarbaijan Province included holding local festivals (such as the Muhammad Flower Festival, local games festival, etc.), organizing local craft markets and developing ecotourism in rural areas. The findings indicated that among the strengths of the component, the presence of water, electricity, and gas networks was identified as the most important strength, so the development and organization of infrastructure, services, and equipment are emphasized. According to the results of the present research and in order to improve the planning and performance of the strategic management of sustainable development of tourism in the target villages of Eastern Azarbaijan province, the following suggestions are presented:
- Preservation and protection of environmental, cultural resources and attractions (achieving the sustainability of resources)
- Developing the activities of related institutions and organizations such as promoting education and increasing people's awareness in the field of rural tourism
- Diversifying and improving the employment structure and economic activities of villagers through supporting local rural tourism businesses and preventing capital leakage. out of the village
- Revision of tourism programs, activities, and services in order to implement advertising programs in order to introduce attractions
- Development and organization of infrastructure, services, and equipment needed for rural tourism
- Increasing social empowerment by emphasizing knowledge and awareness, education and information, increasing the participation of rural youth and women and girls in order to increase self-reliance in the management of local tourism affairs
- Revision of laws and regulations to control illegal constructions and optimal use of tourist attractions and prevent destruction and pollution Resources.