Analyzing Ideological Attitudes of Modern Tourists Towards Visiting Natural Attractions: A Case Study of Tourists Visiting Western Kalate of Bastam District, Shahrood County

This applied study sought to investigate the ideological bases and theoretical attitudes of tourists of modern tourists towards the environment and their behavior in this regard using a descriptive-analytical approach. The unit of analysis is the tourists who visited the Kharghan and Western Kalateh districts in Bastam district, Shahrood County. Due to the lack of accurate information on the number of tourists visiting the study area, the current study used Cochran's formula (applied in cases of unknown communities) to determine the sample size of the study. Accordingly, 140 tourists were selected, to whom a relevant questionnaire was administered. The results of the study indicated that the aesthetic-mental attitude of the tourists towards nature (with an average of 4.78) exerted the greatest influence on their behavior towards the environment, suggesting that most of the tourists do not seek economic benefits in visiting tourist areas. In other words, the tourists do not follow a utilitarian attitude in visiting nature. Moreover, the results revealed that the attitudes of professional tourists (those who are actively engaged in tourism) towards nature differ from those of non-professional tourists. According to the results of the t-test performed on two independent samples, women and men possess different ideological attitudes towards nature, making them behave differently towards the natural environment. Furthermore, a positive direct correlation was found between age and the ideological attitudes of tourists towards nature, indicating that the attitude towards nature changes with an increase in age, which in turn affects the behavior of tourists towards the environment.