The Role of Community-Based Rural Tourism in Explaining the Concept of Self-reliance in Tourist-Friendly Villages (Case study: Sarein County)

Community-based rural tourism is one of the most important types of tourism that has attracted special attention in recent decades. Also, the concept of self-reliance of tourist villages is one of the key and influential concepts in villages that many communities follow in the field of sustainable development and local self-sufficiency. The present study is of a mixed type and is applied in terms of purpose. The research method used in it is a mixed one that uses a sequential-exploratory approach. In the first phase, using the qualitative focus group method, the main dimensions and components of the concept of self-reliance of community-based rural tourism in tourist villages are identified and extracted, and in the second phase, using the quantitative survey method, comments are made on their confirmation and reliability. The data and information collection tools in the first phase are library studies and semi-structured interviews that were collected from 17 relevant experts, and in the second phase, information was collected using a questionnaire. According to the research findings, 231 raw codes were collected and categorized using an inductive approach into 83 key themes, 24 integrative themes, and 4 overarching themes. Also, in the second phase, all extracted components and indicators were approved. According to the research results, the role of community-based rural tourism is a strategic pillar in the concept of self-reliance of tourist villages in Sarein County, and the use of community-based rural tourism can be used as a strategy for revitalizing rural communities from a sustainable development perspective.