Village and Development

Village and Development

Specifying the Objectives and Alternatives of Tourism Development within the Framework of Value-focused Thinking: A Case Study of Farahabad, Sari County of Iran

Authors
Mostafa GHADAMI
Mahmoud SHAREPOUR
Maryam NAGHAVI
10.30490/rvt.2017.59477
Abstract
   This study  aimed at determining the values
​​of the host community and exploring new views about the development of
tourism in Farahabad, Sari county of Iran, by value-focused thinking in order
to identify decision opportunities, create and evaluate alternatives and
finally, choose the best alternative. It was a qualitative research implemented
through the strategy of Grounded Theory and also analytic hierarchy process
(AHP) for evaluating and prioritizing the development alternatives in the
studied area. The statistical population included 15 informed people in the concerned
field who were selected by snowball sampling. The semi-structured interview was
used to collect data. The study results showed that in accordance with value-focused
thinking, the effective objectives in tourism development of Farahabad were
divided into two types including fundamental and means objectives. Then, the
phase of making decisions regarding these objectives began by specifying the
alternatives and decision opportunities as well as evaluating them. Finally,
the diversified development was selected as the most preferred alternative for
community sustainable development in the studied area.      
Keywords
Tourism Development
Host Community
Value-Focused Thinking
Fundamental Objectives
Means Objectives
Sari (County)