Objective: Rural ecotourism accommodations, as one of the modern tools of community-based tourism, play a significant role in diversifying income sources, creating employment, stimulating investment, and enhancing the resilience of the local economy. This study was conducted with the aim of structurally analyzing the outcomes of rural ecotourism accommodation development and its role in changing the local economic pattern in Watershed 86 of Golestan Province, using a survey method.
Methods: The statistical population consisted of managers of rural ecotourism accommodations and rural tourism practitioners, of whom 75 individuals were purposefully selected as the sample size. The data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale. Its content and face validity were confirmed by experts, and its convergent validity was verified through the Average Variance Extracted (AVE). To determine reliability, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Composite Reliability (CR) were employed. After data collection, the information was analyzed using SPSS 27 and Smart PLS 3 software.
Results: The results indicated that the development of rural ecotourism accommodations has a positive and significant effect on changing the local economic pattern at the 99% confidence level. Based on the findings, the component of “stimulating local investment and developing tourism-oriented businesses” with a path coefficient of 0.701, and “diversifying livelihood and income sources of rural households” with a path coefficient of 0.684, received the greatest impact from the development of rural ecotourism accommodations.
Conclusions: In order to enhance the role of rural ecotourism accommodations in transforming the local economy, it is recommended to design a comprehensive framework for management and operational planning based on sustainable development, local participation, and economic diversification. This framework includes designing a region-based roadmap, strengthening tourism clusters, and empowering local communities.