How Do Tourism Stakeholders Support Sustainable Tourism Development: The Case of Iran

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to empirically examine the effect of emotional solidarity, stakeholders’ attitude, stakeholders’ commitment, perceived economic benefit, and cost on the sustainable tourism development in the Iranian tourism sector. Data were collected from surveying 258 Iranian stakeholders. The analysis was completed by using Partial Least Squares—Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that there is a direct effect of emotional solidarity and stakeholders’ attitude on perceived economic benefit. Stakeholders’ attitude and commitment influence perceived cost, and perceived economic benefits and sustainable tourism development were highly associated. Moreover, perceived economic benefit plays the mediator role between emotional solidarity, stakeholders’ attitude, and supports sustainable tourism development. This study makes significant contributions to the body of tourism literature by confirming the link between emotional solidarity, stakeholders’ attitude, stakeholders’ commitment, perceived economic benefit and cost on support in sustainable tourism development. Furthermore, this study offers several practical implications for local authorities and tourism policies aiming to improve support and engagement in tourism planning for aiding sustainable tourism development in Iran.