Factors Affecting the Change of Agricultural Land Use to Tourism: A Case Study on the Southern Coasts of the Caspian Sea, Iran

Abstract

This research investigates the reasons of changing the agricultural land use to tourism in a developing country with different political, economic and social context (Iran). The method used in this research is qualitative, and unstructured interviews have been used to collect data. The target population of the research includes farmers who have sold their farmlands to investors in the tourism sector and experts from the agricultural department of the relevant county. The interviewees have been selected through using snowball method and after reaching theoretical saturation, the data collection process was stopped. The results showed that various macro and micro factors affected the process of changing the agricultural land uses to tourism, including the weakness of the agricultural sector in creating income and job opportunities compared to the tourism sector, the weakness of the land use laws and the lack of inter-organizational coordination in law enforcement, the weakness of the property registration system and the lack of a national cadaster, the lack of effective government support of the agricultural sector, the rapid rise in land prices and, ultimately, the change in the attitude of farmers both old and young once towards the agricultural activity and the level of welfare.