Assessing the Environmental Sustainability of Tourism in the Target villages of East Azerbaijan Province

Tourism and the environment are interdependent. For this reason, tourism development and management are key factors in achieving sustainable development. This study aimed to evaluate tourism's environmental sustainability in the target villages of East Azerbaijan province. This research is a survey in terms of practical purpose and in terms of how to collect data. The study's statistical population was the heads of households in four villages targeted for tourism in East Azerbaijan province (N = 819). Using the Krejcie-Morgan table, the statistical sample size of 265 people was calculated. The proportional stratified sampling method was used to obtain a statistical sample in each of the selected villages. To achieve the purpose of the research, in the first stage, the indicators of environmental sustainability of tourism were identified using an integrated method. Based on the two indicators, resource conservation and biodiversity and management and environmental policies were determined with 29 indicators. In the second stage, using the radar model, the overall environmental sustainability of tourism in the target villages of East Azerbaijan province was assessed. The results showed that the studied villages generally have a moderate level of environmental sustainability. Among the villages as case studies, the highest environmental sustainability score, equal to 0.585, belonged to Totehkhaneh village, and the lowest score, equal to 0.369, belonged to Kandovan village.IntroductionTourism and the environment are interdependent. For this reason, tourism development and management are critical factors in achieving sustainable development compatible with the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out all programs, including tourism, based on recognizing and evaluating the environment's potential to preserve both the natural values ​​ and the proper and continuous use of the environment. This study aimed to evaluate tourism's environmental sustainability in the target villages of East Azerbaijan province. Given the current situation and since nature is one of the most important resources in rural tourism and the destruction of nature is a threat to sustainable tourism in a destination, this study aims to assess the environmental sustainability of tourism in target villages. It was an East Azarbaijan province, and efforts were made to study and evaluate the environmental dimension of rural tourism. It is hoped that the results of this study will be he