Identifying and Analyzing the Driving Forces Involved in Developing Tourism Industry in Kondoleh Village, Sahneh City

Abstract Tourism is regarded as an inflectional factor in developing the communications between nations worldwide in today’s world, providing job opportunities in the economic sector and fostering socio-cultural interactions. On the other hand, rural tourism has widely been researched by a wide variety of scholars around the world, as it can help create new jobs, increase the residents’ revenues, and mitigate poverty, especially in villages that enjoy cultural attractions. Therefore, this sought to investigate the key factors and influential driving forces involved in developing tourism in Kandoleh village using the Delphi method and the future study approach. This study is considered applied in terms of purpose, carried out based on new methods followed in the future study, and novel exploratory and analyzing techniques using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. In this regard, the key indices were identified via Delphi method, and the critical driving forces were detected based on the cross-impact analysis method using the Mick Mac software. The study’s results suggested that out of the twenty-eight key factors identified, efficient management and designation of Kandoleh village as the pilot site for rural tourism were the most influential elements in developing tourism within the village, followed by factors such as increased investments by the private sector, advertising, registering and preserving historical and cultural monuments, and providing security for tourists, respectively.