Sustainable tourism in a rural setting is the subject of a growing
literature, reflecting interest amongst academics and industry
practitioners from both public and private sectors. There is some
evidence of this trend in Iran where government is attaching
increased importance to rural tourism and has launched several
initiatives, but little research has been conducted there in general
and within a local community context. The current study aims to
help in filling this gap and has three main objectives of identifying
the positive and negative impacts of tourism on a village and its
resources as perceived by villagers; examining the concerns and
priorities of villagers related to tourism; and investigating the concept
of sustainable rural tourism from the perspectives of residents and
their willingness to participate. Attention is also given to the role of
rural tourism as an economic development tool and the effectiveness
and appropriateness of current government policies. The paper opens
with a review of the literature which is followed by introductions to
tourism in Iran and the study area in order to set the scene. The qualitative
research methodology of semi-structured interviews is then
described and the findings are discussed before a final conclusion.