Explaining the Levels of Tourism Sustainability in the Target Villages of Myami City, Iran

Introduction: Tourism is an important part in the sustainable development of rural environments. Its ability to create sustainable employment and a desirable level of profit comes from the stability of tourism activities throughout the year.
Objectives: The aim of this study is to measure the level of sustainability of tourism development. Also it explains the levels of sustainability of tourism in the process of tourism life cycle in the target villages of My‌ami in Semnan Province.
Methodology: This study is an applied research in terms of purpose, cross-sectional in terms of time, explanatory-analytical in  terms of nature and descriptive in terms of research design. It was performed based on the analysis of Barometer and Butler models. In order to collect the required data, two methods of document and field studies (questionnaire) and (interview) were used.
Geographical Contex: The target villages of tourism in Myami County of Semnan Province، including the villages of Fromad and Abbasabad in the east of the province and the city and the villages of Hosseinabad, Nardin, Nam Nik, Talobin and Dasht Shad in the north of Myami.
Result and Discussion: The value of sustainability in the environmental dimension is 0.435, and for socio-economic dimension is 0.465. The social and economic dimensions and indicators of development are more sustainable than the environmental dimension in the studied villages. According to the research findings, the average stability of all studied villages is average, and among them, Fromad village with a stability value of 0.5 has the highest level of stability. It indicates that this village has a better situation comparing to other villages in terms of facilities and services welfare, level of information and awareness of people about the benefits of tourism and other factors. Telubin village has the lowest level of stability among the target villages due to lack of facilities and services, low quality of rural environment and lack of attention of local managers and level of awareness and the low economic status of the people from the benefits of tourism. It scores a value of 0.365, and is at the level of instability (poor stability).
Conclusion: The value of tourism sustainability in the environmental and socio-cultural dimension is not at the same level in the studied villages. Villages that have a medium and higher level are in the evolutionary tourism which is the stage of participation, intervention and involvement of local communities is in accordance with Butler tourism model. Based on Crouch and Ritchie strategy, the villages of Dasht-e Shad and Talubin are potentially unstable and at the pre-tourism stage, so in accordance with Butler's tourism model in the exploration and solutions phase, "human resources-education, social-cultural, product marketing" is offered in the framework of Poon strategy.