Farm tourism as a driving force for socioeconomic development: a benefits viewpoint from Iran

In recent years, the potential of farm tourism to generate socioeconomic benefits for farmers and suppliers has been established in a range of international contexts. This study aims to identify the main socioeconomic benefits of farm tourism for farming communities in Iran on a national scale. In order to cover agricultural potentiality, nine provinces were selected. Factor analysis of the data extracted nine social and economic factors, which were then analysed using stepwise regression analysis. The findings indicate that the diversification of Iran's farms into tourism businesses would introduce a new social and economic growth stimulus for local communities. The stepwise regression findings were employed to identify which farm tourism factors are required for socioeconomic development in Iran. Factors were divided into nine categories of socioeconomic development: learning and educational activities improvements, cultural development, community participation, thriving local economy, pursuit of personal values, income generation, quality of life improvement, building business competitiveness and modifying migration structure. Among these categories, farmers/suppliers in farming communities have primarily concentrated on the pursuit of personal values and income generation.