Sports management, marketing
Ebrahim Alidoust Ghahfarrokhi; Mahdi Dastgerdi; Nader Ranjbar; Rahim Khosromanesh
Abstract
Abstract
The tourism industry has grown explosively in the 21st century and has found a special place in the gross domestic product (GDP) and economic growth of countries. The share of the tourism industry in the GDP of the world is more than 10%. Tourism generates income, creates jobs and helps to ...
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Abstract
The tourism industry has grown explosively in the 21st century and has found a special place in the gross domestic product (GDP) and economic growth of countries. The share of the tourism industry in the GDP of the world is more than 10%. Tourism generates income, creates jobs and helps to develop infrastructure (Jäggi, 2022). Iran also has many tourist attractions and can benefit from this industry (Khanifar et al., 2023). Sports tourism is also one of the important sectors of the rapidly growing tourism industry, which is of great interest (Hritz & Ross, 2010). Linking tourism and sports industry through job creation in villages and prevention of migration to cities can play an important role in reducing suburbanization in big cities (Jamieson, 2014). Sports tourism has various types. In general, there are two types of sports tourism: active and passive. In active sports tourism, tourists themselves physically participate in physical activity or related sports. In passive sports tourism, tourists do not engage in physical activity (Gibson et al., 2018). In recent years; Active sports tourism has grown increasingly in international tourism markets. Currently, Iran's active tourist attractions are more than its passive tourist attractions (Seifpanahi Shabani et al., 2022). Active sports tourism in Iran can include mountaineering, rock climbing, skiing, desert tourism, motorcycling and car racing, horse racing, surfing, diving, and renting and using professional sports camps (Dastgerdi et al., 2022). Therefore; the purpose of this research was strategic analysis in order to develop Iran's active sports tourism at the international level.
The research methodology was mixed (qualitative and quantitative). In order to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats surrounding Iran's active sports tourism, interviews and library research were used. In this research, in-depth interviews were conducted with 37 elites and the working group of experts was used to analyze, formulate and evaluate strategies. After identifying and categorizing the internal and external factors effective in the development of active sports tourism industry in Iran; the specialized working group (consisting of researchers who had extensive activities and studies regarding the principles of strategy formulation as well as active tourism and sports tourism industry) gave weight and score to these factors using the matrix of Internal Factors Evaluation or IFE and matrix of External Factors Evaluation or EFE. Therefore, the importance and priority of each of these factors and the score of each of these matrices were determined, and as a result, the position of Iran's active sports tourism in the TOWS matrix was determined. In the continuation of the specialized working group, by comparing the most important strengths and weaknesses with the most important opportunities and threats, they formulated four types of primary strategies: SO, ST, WO and WT strategies. Then, in consultation with experts, the initial strategies were combined and integrated as much as possible to formulate stronger strategies. In the following, the specialized working group determined the attractiveness score of internal and external factors for each of these strategies using Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix or QSPM. Then, the final score of each strategy and the priority of the strategies were determined by the final sum of the weights multiplied by the attractiveness scores.
The findings showed that the most important strengths were: the existence of many adventurous and active sports tourism attractions in Iran (such as mountains, rocks, deserts, seas, rivers, beaches, etc.), the high capacity of some sports to attract sports tourists, such as snow skiing, surfing, desert tourism, rock climbing, conquering high peaks, many historical, natural, religious and recreational attractions in Iran as complementary attractions, existence of expert staff, suitable accommodation, high security, suitable domestic transportation, Iranian hospitality, the four seasons of Iran, and the support of the senior officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the development of the tourism industry in Iran. The most important weaknesses were: weak marketing, mandatory hijab law, the impossibility of consuming non-Islamic food such as alcoholic beverages, pork, etc. in restaurants, mismanagement and lack of coordination, Iran's weak international transportation, providing poor police services to international tourists, and inadequate service. The most important opportunities were: the high value of international currencies in Iran, explosive increase in demand for active sports tourism at the international level, Iran's very strong international relations with countries such as Russia, China, Iraq, very large international airlines such as Turkish Air, Qatar Airways and Emirates in Iran's neighborhood, The precarious position of Turkey in the tourism industry, and high number of Muslim tourists. The most important threats were: USA sanctions (bank sanctions, ban on travel to Iran), negative propaganda of Western countries against Iran, strong competitors (Turkey and Thailand), and spying under the guise of tourism.
Then, considering that the final score of the matrix of Internal Factors Evaluation was 2.70 and the final score of the matrix of External Factors Evaluation was calculated to be 2.72, as a result, the strategic position of Iran's active sports tourism was determined in SO position. Finally, the results of the QSPM matrix calculations showed that the most important strategies for the development of active tourism in Iran are: (1) Marketing (traditional and modern), (2) Undermining and circumventing sanctions, (3) Providing essential services, (4) Creating distinctive experiences, and (5) Attracting investors. Digital marketing, viral marketing and influencer marketing are three modern marketing methods in the development of the tourism industry, which should be used well in order to increase the active sports tourism market share of Iran in the international market. Iran can also circumvent US sanctions in the field of tourism industry by using the strategic and important relations it has with Russia, China, Iraq and other neighboring countries. In the end, the key to the success of all marketing efforts and circumventing sanctions is to provide essential services and create unique experiences for international tourists in active sports. It is obvious that the development of the tourism industry in Iran requires more investment, but before investing, proper conditions must be provided (It means planning for marketing, circumventing sanctions, providing essential services and creating distinctive experiences).
Sports management, marketing
asma fekrat; Akbar Jaberi
Abstract
Abstract
The sports industry has become globalized rapidly, its territory has conquered all parts of the world, and its importance in the economy is not hidden from anyone, the expansion of branding and attention to it is one of the consequences of the globalization of sports. The purpose of branding ...
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Abstract
The sports industry has become globalized rapidly, its territory has conquered all parts of the world, and its importance in the economy is not hidden from anyone, the expansion of branding and attention to it is one of the consequences of the globalization of sports. The purpose of branding is to create a favorable situation for the organization's brand through its various stakeholders. This has caused brand strategies to have a special place in the organization's macro strategy. Considering the benefits that branding creates for organizations and consumers, this issue has been highly considered by marketers. Branding is a very practical strategy to differentiate in the service and production industries and in today's world, companies and organizations are not only seeking to compete for the market of products and services but also making a lot of effort to align the mental perceptions of customers with They do it themselves. For centuries, the science of branding has been considered a tool to differentiate one manufacturer's products from other manufacturers. Today, many organizations have come to believe that one of their most valuable assets is their product and service brands. In today's complex and challenging world, all of us, whether as individuals or as business managers, are faced with more and more options and less time to make decisions and choices. Based on this, the ability of brands in simplifying customers' decisions, reducing risk, and defining their expectations is very valuable. According to the definition of the American Marketing Association, the key to branding is the ability to choose a name, logo, symbol, packaging design, or other features that distinguish a product or service from other competitors. The science of branding is faced with the weakness of definition and conceptualization, and this problem makes the definition of branding more complicated. A review of studies conducted in the field of brand development shows that branding includes certain implicit concepts in addition to conventional and obvious meanings. The change in income generation of clubs, increasing income, and strengthening the relationship with fans, clubs, and sports organizations has led them to look for new sources of more profitability, one of these ways is the development of sports branding. The purpose of this research is to present a qualitative model of the development of sports branding with a meta-synthesis technique of various meta-study methods and the CIPP model. In this research, by applying a systematic and meta-synthesis approach, the results and findings of previous researchers have been analyzed, and by performing the seven steps of the Sandlovski and Barroso method and the CIPP model, the factors affecting the development of sports branding have been categorized. The CIPP model uses four types of evaluation (context, input, process, and output). These four types of evaluation can be used for decision-making and answering or decision-making and answering. Based on the coding of the data with the CIPP pattern, 4 main components, 10 concepts, and 51 codes have been extracted. The critical evaluation method is used to measure the quality control of the present study. Branding is an important and unique feature for any type of investment in today's business environment, which can provide the basis for the growth of the economic cycle and an exciting competitive environment. It is suggested that to face the threats of the globalization of sports, a coordinated and innovative strategy and approach should always be taken into account in the direction of brand development. A number of these strategies and approaches include a variety of brand development models, business network development, exploitation of commercial advantages, etc., and it should always be noted that the process of branding development is a long-term process. It is clear that if it is done correctly and with principles, it will bring a very surprising result in profitability and as a result economic development. The brand expansion makes a new product quickly recognized and accepted by consumers. Success in the development of branding while developing export markets also adds to the international prestige of countries. Based on the output of the model obtained from this research, it can be concluded that sports managers and marketers consider the development of sports branding as one of their main goals and make more efforts to expand it.
Sports management, marketing
Rasool Ghorbanpoor; seyed morteza Azimzadeh
Abstract
Sports are changing to a lucrative industry in developed countries.And sport managers are seek potentials for current and in shade that for sports – financial purposes achievement. One of sport’s financial aspects is marketing and it is issues. Sport’s complexs marketing more emphasis ...
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Sports are changing to a lucrative industry in developed countries.And sport managers are seek potentials for current and in shade that for sports – financial purposes achievement. One of sport’s financial aspects is marketing and it is issues. Sport’s complexs marketing more emphasis base serving and sports customers (following and fans).Therefore the services natural options branding is other most important aspect of marketing (KAPFERER, 2008). In this situation success managers that aspect sports financial the work priority. On the other, any sports complex can be as a brand and considered fans as customers. Therefore, managers can use branding strategies. The missing link these days of sports complexes especially Iranian water parks, low attention managers and marketing planers of these complexes are the most important factor in the financial circulation sports organizations is the fans and customers. research method, research method descriptive and correlational and the method of collecting data from the field type and research tool a statistical population of this study included all customers of Mashhad water parks (Blue waves, Roaring wavers, AFTAB beach parks and Iranian water parks), it was in year 1396.The number of the population in non – peak days 2500 people. Cochran used was to determine the sample size considering that the statistical population is unlimited, by entering the required information, the sample size of 384 people was calculated. This number obtained was according to the estimation of monthly customers of water parks. In this research, according to the statistical features, stratified sampling used was according to the population of each class. In this research, brand experience as dependent variables and gender, age and employment history considered were as moderating variables. The questionnaire of this research consists of two main parts, which taken are from related studies in that field. First the part (general questions), an attempt has been made to collecting demographic information about the respondents and in the second part (specialized questions), to collect data from 13 – question brand loyalty questionnaires,HOLBORK et al (2001), with a coefficient of 755% (behavioural loyalty 4 questions with a coefficient 76% and attitudinal loyalty 9 questions with coefficient 74%) and brand experience questionnaire; BARACUS, SMITH and ZARANTONELLO (2009), used 6 questions with coefficient value 781%. The five – point LIKRET scale, which is one of the most common measurement scales, used was to design the questionnaire. Also, in order to analyse the data, in addition to using statistical indicators such as frequency, percentage, average and standard deviation, from the inferential statistical methods of spearman’s test and point range, in order to investigate the relationship between the components of brand loyalty, as well as demographic variables (employment history, age and gender), were used.Finding research, the descriptive results of the research showed that most of the participants in this research are in the age range of 21- 30 years (42%), 8% below 20 year, 26% between 31 – 40 years, 14% between 41 – 49 years old and 10% were over 50 years old. Most of the research sample consisted of 52% woman and 48% men. Other findings of the research include the occupations of the people participating in the research, 35% of the respondents were self – employed, 28% were office workers, 5% were military, 13% were students, 6% were seminary and 13% were housewives. In order to examine the research questions and choose the appropriate statistical test, KOLMOGOROV – SMIRNOV test was used. The results of KOLMOGROV – SMIRNOV showed that all research variables and their components have a non – normality distribution. According to abnormality considering the non – normality of all research variables, SPEARMAN’S test was used to investigate the relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty. The results of the SPEARMAN showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the variables of brand experience and brand loyalty at the level of (P<0.001), (r= 0.801). The Next relationship between brand loyalty dimensions (attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty), with brand experience variable was examined the results of the SPEARMAN test showed that between attitudinal loyalty and brand experience (r= 0.670), there is a positive and significant relationship at the level (P<0.001).Also, to test the relationship between demographic variables (employment history, age and gender) with the brand experience variable, due to the ranking of these variable, SPEARMAN’S correlation coefficient was used. Findings showed that there is no significant relationship between these two variables with the brand experience variable (P>0.05). Finally, considering that the gender variable is considered as a two – category or two – valued real variable and organizational citizenship behaviour is considered a distance variable, the two – point correlation coefficient was used to investigate the relationship between them and the findings there is no significant correlation between these two variables (P>0.05). Discussion and conclusion; the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty to customers of Mashhad water parks. The main purpose of the research was to determine the relationship between brand loyalty and brand experience and considering the dimensions of brand loyalty, them was determined with the brand experience and then the relationship between the moderating variables (employment history, age and gender) with the brand experience was determined.The research findings showed that there was a significant and positive relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty (P≤ 0.1, r= 0.801). Brand experience means the consumer internal response (emotional and cognitive feeling), as well as his response to brand stimuli and these stimuli include; design, packaging, brand identity and concepts like that brand experience can be positive or negative. It suggested to sports complexs and sports manufactures and marketers to provide the mean of doing things that create a positive experience and attract for consumers. Other research findings show that, there is a positive and significant relationship between brand experience and behavioural and attitudinal loyalty customers of Mashhad water parks. These findings are consistent with the research results (BARAKOS et al. 2009), (SHAIN et al. 2011), (WALTER et al. 2013) and (EBRAHIMI et al. 2013). In this research, no significant relationship found was between the desired moderating variables (age, gender and employment history) and brand experience, which indicates that these variables may not have much effect on the relationship between brand loyalty and its components. Due to the existence of a strong relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty obtained in this research, it can suggest to the managers and planners of water parks to pay attention to brand experience as one of the important factors in creating brand loyalty.
Sports management, marketing
marjan saffari; fariba fayazi; Rasool Norouzi Seyed hossini
Abstract
Leisure under the effect of socio-economic developments and global values is one of the concerns of individuals. Leisure activities can affect people's physical health and lead to a better life and successful aging in adults. On the other hand, the growth and development of machine life, reduction of ...
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Leisure under the effect of socio-economic developments and global values is one of the concerns of individuals. Leisure activities can affect people's physical health and lead to a better life and successful aging in adults. On the other hand, the growth and development of machine life, reduction of working hours and activities, most importantly cultural changes, have made it impossible to ignore your leisure time. The statistics obtained in this field showed that the average lisure time in Iran is 90 days and in the world 80 days per year. The average amount of leisure time in Iran is 3 hours and 29 minutes per day, while the world average is 5 hours. This means that despite the fact that Iranians have more leisure time than the world per capita, the amount of time allocated to it is less and Iranians prefer to spend their budget on other things. Therefore, the vacuum created in this field is questionable as to what factors prevent people from doing leisure activities in their free time, and also the factors that increase leisure activities, to what extent can be increased and strengthened. Due to the tendency of sports and physical education managers and sports media towards championship sports, so far less attention has been paid to leisure sports activities. The subject to be investigated in this context is how much leisure time can affect the satisfaction of the activity and whether the factors affecting the increase of leisure time also increase the satisfaction or not. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of serious leisure on satisfaction from lelisure activities with the mediation of recreational involvement in amateur volleyball athletes. The research method was applied in terms of purpose and correlation interms of data collection, which was done in the field. Data collection tools were questionnaires of Gould et al (2008), Kyle et al (2005) and Ramkisson et al (2012). The target population of the study was non-professional athletes of Tehran Volleyball House who had at least 6 months of membership in this collection. PASS Software was used to determine the sample size and the sampling method was available. Finally, 274 questionnaires were used for statistical analysis. The face and content validity of the data collection tool was reviewed by 9 experts in this field. Cronbach's alpha was 0.95. In order to analyze the data, descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used using SPSS software version 26 and PLS version 3. The Findings showed that if a participant has serious leisure traits, more likely than others to understand the importance of the activity and enjoy its appeal. On the other hand, people should have characteristics such as individual efforts, perseverance and commitment in the activity to pursue recreational activities. one of the most important factors to increase people's satisfaction with leisure activities is recreational participation (Path coefficient 0.519). Among the dimensions of recreational participation, attraction has the greatest impact (Path coefficient = 0.449 and AVE = 0.747), so it can be said that the more irritable people are to an activity, the greater their satisfaction. Entertainment participation predicts 49% and serious leisure 42% of changes in leisure satisfaction, and 66% recreational involvement of changes depend on the serious leisure of volleyball players. taking into account the mediating role of recreational participation in the relationship between serious leisure and leisure satisfaction, the results showed that despite dimensions such as attraction, self-expression, centrality of lifestyle, the relationship between the two variables of serious leisure and leisure satisfaction becomes stronger. Recreational participation with its mediating role can create a positive experience in people and their satisfaction with recreational activities. According to the output of the software used in this research, 51% of the changes in satisfaction with leisure activities are related to recreational participation and serious leisure of non-professional volleyball players of Tehran Volleyball House. Therefore, considering a factor such as recreational involvement can be a great help to the officials in the field of leisure to attract and satisfy more customers of Tehran Volleyball House. In the present study, the relationship between perseverance and customs on leisure satisfaction was not significant. This issue can be interpreted as that the researches were conducted on old people and adults, but according to the descriptive findings of the research, 45.6% of the statistical sample of the current research were under 20 years of age, so they endure problems and hardships and barriers to leisure. Seriously, it's probably difficult for them, and they don't have a proper understanding of customs and subcultures. But the identity of volleyball players is very important in their leisure time. People who follow volleyball as a serious leisure identify themselves with volleyball, and their family and friends also know how important it is for a volleyball player to do volleyball activities. With the improvement of athletes' performance in this area and their efforts, their satisfaction with volleyball will also increase. Educators should know that by knowing the goals of their students, they can help them achieve their goals. The design of exercises that are accompanied by pleasure and happiness by volleyball coaches can attract athletes more to this discipline, so that they prefer volleyball to other sports. The participants in the volleyball field who are satisfied with their leisure activity in the volleyball house know that their life is connected to volleyball, so they plan in life in such a way that the position of volleyball is always reserved. The managers of the complexes can increase the attractiveness for the volleyball players or create suitable conditions for the participants who can show a good image of themselves to others, causing them to be satisfied with the activities they do, which ultimately leads to the loyalty of the volleyball players. For example, having up to date sports equipment, designing exercises with joy and pleasure, and giving athletes the opportunity to discuss volleyball can be very important in the field of loyalty of volleyball players. The participants in the volleyball field who are satisfied with their leisure activity in the volleyball house know that their life is connected to volleyball, so they plan in life in such a way that the position of volleyball is always reserved.
Sports management, marketing
Mohamad hasan Khoram; Mohammadreza Moradi; Maziyar Hatami
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the mental image of the country of origin of the brand on the formation of brand equity resulting in brand trust in the sports industry as a case study in Shiraz. The method in the present study is due to the application of the results in solving ...
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The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the mental image of the country of origin of the brand on the formation of brand equity resulting in brand trust in the sports industry as a case study in Shiraz. The method in the present study is due to the application of the results in solving common problems, in terms of practical purpose, due to partial description of the situation and calculation of community parameters (age, education, gender, etc.), in terms of descriptive-inferential method and modeling-based Structural equations and analysis is a factor that is used for data collection, first from library studies and then for the use of questionnaires of survey type and in terms of time. The statistical population used in this study was all those who used brands of sports products in Shiraz and due to the unlimited statistical population and using the Cochran unlimited sample size formula and with a 5% error, 384 people were targeted by sampling method. The questionnaire was distributed and collected in person in some sports stores in different parts of Shiraz. The Moradi Lalekaei & et al (2016) questionnaire was used, which includes 29 questions in two sections: general and specific questions. To answer the questions, the Likert scale was used, which includes 5 values. In this spectrum, there is the lowest score that is completely opposite (one) and the highest score is completely agreed (five). This questionnaire measures the image of the country of origin of the brand (5 questions), brand association (awareness) (3 questions), brand loyalty (3 questions), brand differentiation (4 questions), brand trust (3 questions) and brand equity (4 questions) Has. In the discussion of determining the validity of the content, the questionnaire was heard and commented by 5 professors and experts in the field of sports management, and after consulting and applying their opinion, the questionnaires were approved for distribution. Cronbach's alpha method was used to determine the reliability and a small number of questionnaires (30 people) were distributed for the preliminary study. Based on the data obtained from them, the Cronbach's alpha level of the questionnaire was higher than 0.8, which indicates the reliability of the questionnaire. It has a high. In this study, at the level of descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation and elongation to classify and describe data and at the level of inferential statistics from Pearson correlation coefficient tests and structural equation modeling and factor analysis to test research hypotheses and determine the amount and strength of dependent independent variables. Using Spss and Smart-PLS software. Based on the research findings, it can be said that the image of the country of origin has a positive and significant effect on brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand differentiation and brand equity in the sports industry. Also, it can be said that brand awareness has a positive and significant effect on brand equity but does not have a positive and significant effect on brand loyalty in the sports industry. Also, it can be said that brand loyalty has a positive and significant effect on brand equity and brand differentiation in the sports industry. Also, it can be said that brand differentiation does not have a positive and significant effect on brand equity in the sports industry. It can also be said that brand equity has a positive and significant effect on brand trust in the sports industry. On the other hand, according to the path coefficients, it can be said that the image of the country of origin, among the dimensions of brand equity, ie brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand differentiation, has the greatest impact on brand awareness. Also, it can be said that the special value of the brand among its dimensions, ie brand awareness and brand loyalty and brand differentiation, has received the most impact from brand loyalty. Findings from factor analysis showed that the mental image of the country of origin has a positive and significant effect on the dimensions of brand equity (awareness, loyalty and differentiation) and brand equity and has the greatest impact on brand awareness. Since the relationship between the dual dimensions of brand equity (awareness and loyalty) and brand equity is positive and significant, it can be argued that the higher the brand loyalty and brand awareness, the higher the value. The brand name is created for them; In other words, it can be said that brand names with high loyalty have a high special value of brand name. The results show that brand loyalty and brand association have a direct impact on brand equity. On the other hand, no direct relationship was found between the perceived quality of the brand and the brand equity. Among the factors that have a direct effect on brand equity, brand loyalty has the most impact and brand awareness is next, which brand loyalty is a key structure in describing brand equity. On the other hand, the effect of brand differentiation with brand equity was not reported to be positive and significant. Other research findings include the positive and significant effect of brand equity on brand trust. According to the research results, manufacturers of sports products are advised to be careful in choosing a foreign or domestic business partner. Also, due to the importance of the image of the country of origin, exporters should pay attention to the role of loyalty of the destination countries in the continuous purchase of Iranian sports goods and the recognition of Iranian sports brands. On the other hand, manufacturers and resellers to increase customer loyalty must establish a long-term relationship with customers and by unique products, credibility, innovation and high technology of their products can differentiate their product from other competitors by brand differentiation and Attract more customers through differentiation. Finally, manufacturers and marketers to produce the product pay attention to the expectations of target market customers to enhance their brand value in the minds of consumers so that ultimately brand equity results in brand trust.
Sports management, marketing
Hossein zareian; mohammad hasan abdollahi; fahime mirzaei; Leila Dast Amooz; sajad gholami torkesaluye
Abstract
The aim of this study was to design a competency model for Iranian sports marketers. The research method was descriptive and functional that was done fieldwork using structural equations. The Statistical Society included marketers of sports production companies in Tehran (N= 245) Using Cochran's formula ...
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The aim of this study was to design a competency model for Iranian sports marketers. The research method was descriptive and functional that was done fieldwork using structural equations. The Statistical Society included marketers of sports production companies in Tehran (N= 245) Using Cochran's formula (n = 150) people were selected by simple random sampling. The measuring instrument was a researcher-made competency management questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale, which was used by 10 professors of sports management. Exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the questions and extract the components. Finally, 6 components with 30 acceptable questions were extracted after varimax rotation. Convergence and divergence validity were used to evaluate the construct validity and reliability. The results showed that the construct validity of the questionnaire is appropriate. SPSS24 and SmartPLS2 software were used for data analysis and model design. showed that the hard and soft skills 0.62, Rhetorical 0.62, art of self-expression with 0.50, Principles of etiquette and association0.44, Familiarity with the principles of negotiation 0.37, and marketing knowledge management with 0,47 Explained the management of sports marketers' Protocols. Protocol management is an important factor in customer relations and sports marketers can achieve more success by applying and improving research components in the marketing process.
Sports management, marketing
Ehsan Mohamadi Turkmani; Hojjat Mohammadi Torkamani; Arman jabraeile
Abstract
Ecotourism is catering for tourists wishing to experience the natural environment without damaging it or disturbing its habitats. It is a form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas, intended as a low-impact and often small scale alternative to standard ...
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Ecotourism is catering for tourists wishing to experience the natural environment without damaging it or disturbing its habitats. It is a form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas, intended as a low-impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial mass tourism. It means responsible travel to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Natural attractions can be one of the most important sources in sports tourism. So sports-ecotourism refers to any sport tourism activity with an emphasis on the principles of ecotourism. Paying attention to the ecological potential of the regions is one of the basic principles of ecotourism development. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to Ecological-Humanitical feasibility of sports-ecotourism development in desert areas of Qom province. The first stage was analytical and the second stage was descriptive-survey. In the first stage, using ecological data including temperature, number of sunny days, topographic map, soil texture, geology, protected areas, railway, land use, road map, cities and rivers and areas and in software Arc GIS identified suitable areas for ecotourism development in Qom province. In the next step, the human potential of the community was evaluated with a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by experts and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha (0.812). The statistical population of the second section included all sports and tourism experts in Qom province (especially in the ecotourism and sports-ecotourism) and all local authorities. The results of first phase showed that only 26.5% of the area of Qom province is suitable for ecotourism development and the remaining 73.5% are not suitable for ecotourism activities. In Qom province, 14 suitable areas for ecotourism development were identified, of which 8 areas in the central part; 2 zones in Salafchegan section; 1 zone jointly in the parts of Khalajastan- Salafchegan; And the districts of Jafarabad, Khalajastan and Kahak each had 1 suitable zone. Generally; According to the zoning, it can be said that the zones located in the central part and Jafarabad located in the desert areas of the province, while the zones located in the southwest of Qom province include Khalajastan, Salafchegan and Kahak are in the mountainous areas. Based on this, the following activities are proposed for the development of sports-ecotourism in Qom province. Hiking on sand and gravel; Holding barefoot resistance competitions on hot sands; Camping at night in the desert; Camel riding and equestrian competitions; Sand skiing; Riding over the desert sky, etc. in the desert areas and mountaineering competitions, rock climbing, cave climbing, mountain biking, etc. in the mountain parts. In the second step, 95 questionnaires were completed by experts in the ecotourism and sports tourism field. The collected data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis in Amos.23. The results showed the human capacity of the local community for the development of sports-ecotourism consists of five dimensions: economic readiness, macro readiness, operational potential, cross-sectoral coordination ability and ecotourism literacy and model fit indices were also confirmed. One sample T-test showed; the status of components of economic readiness, macro readiness, operational potential, and cross-sectoral coordination ability is higher than average (P <0.05). While the status of ecotourism literacy component was lower than average (P <0.05). The total power was 3.11 higher than the theoretical mean (P <0.05). But comparing it with the maximum power, it can be said that there is a long way to go to reach the desired conditions for the development of sports ecotourism. Considering that development in tourism and its various sub-sectors, including sports-tourism will be possible only by relying on natural capacities and attractions, and also local communities potential, without the readiness of the local host there is a possibility of over-exploitation and overuse of resources Which can cause irreparable damage to tourism destinations. Therefore, due to the low status of ecotourism literacy factor, in order to increase this component among the general public, it is necessary to put public education programs in various ways, including mass media, especially television, on the agenda. This actions can increase the general readiness of the community to development of sports-ecotourism.
