Analysis of effective factors on tourism development in religious festival sites, the case of Alamvachini ceremony in Shaheshahidan, Rudbar

Abstract

Alamvachini ceremony is one of the ancient ritual and local ceremonies in Shaheshahidan village in Guilan province. Despite the reception given for this ceremony from people, infrastructure and facilities are not enough for tourists who visit this event. The purpose of this study is to identify the effective factors on attracting tourists to Shaheshahidan village and take part in Alamvachini ceremony. This is an applied research and the method is descriptive – analytic. The study population includes all participants in the event and the sample size is calculated 322 participants using Cochran’s formula. The information has gathered usig library studies, field observation and distribution of questionnaires. For data analysis, method of factor analysis have been used. The results show that economic factors are the most important factors for the development of tourism in Shaheshahidan village. It is proposed that government and private institutes proceed to invest and cooperate to create jobs and increase tourism income that ensure the survival of the event as a cultural heritage of the province.

Keywords

• religious tourism
• ritual ceremonies
• factor analysis
• guilan province