| Abstract:
Parishan wetland, one of the natural resources registered as a global biosphere reserve, attracts many visitors each year. The presence and activities of these visitors exert various positive and negative impacts on the region and it affects the lives of host communities in different ways. Considering the integral role of host communities in tourism planning and sustainable tourism development, understanding their attitudes towards tourists’ presence is essential. This paper aims to identify the adverse social impacts of tourists’ presence on the rural communities surrounding Parishan wetland. Since few studies have been done in Iran, on local communities’ perception of tourism impacts and the limit of its acceptable changes, this paper would also determine the limit of acceptable impacts using “Limit of Acceptable Changes” method. The required data is gathered by interviewing tourism experts and the local communities, based on a semi-structured questionnaire. The findings of this study show that the current level of most of the negative social impacts of tourists’ presence and activities in the rural settlements surrounding Parishan wetland is beyond the acceptable limit. This indicates the necessity of keeping a balance between the number of visitors and the nature of their activities in order to achieve a sustainable ecotourism within the studied region.
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