A B S T R A C T
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of tourism flows in enhancing tourism entrepreneurship dynamics within the tourism influence zone of Mashhad City. This research employs a descriptive–analytical methodology and a library–documentary approach and is applied in nature. The assessment of tourism entrepreneurship was conducted using the standardized indicators of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), while tourism flows were operationalized through eight specific indicators. The statistical population includes rural administrators (dehyars), entrepreneurs, and tourists. To examine the relationships among variables, one-sample t-test, Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients, and regression analysis were applied. Moreover, the MEREC and MARCOS models were utilized within the GIS environment for spatial analysis.The study area comprises the tourism influence zone of Mashhad City. The findings indicate that the overall level of tourism in the region is moderate, highlighting the need for effective policies to strengthen tourism activities. Statistical analysis results reveal a positive and significant relationship between tourism flows and rural entrepreneurship (R = 0.81). However, in some villages with relatively weak tourism inflows, a high level of entrepreneurship was observed due to the creative utilization of local resources. Spatial analysis further demonstrated that environmental, infrastructural, and social factors play a decisive role in the success of entrepreneurial activities in rural areas. Overall, the results suggest that tourism flows can play a pivotal role in fostering entrepreneurship, and future planning should focus on strengthening these flows and optimizing the use of regional capacities.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
In the early decades of the twenty-first century, developing countries continue to face persistent challenges to sustainable development, with rural areas being particularly affected. Previous development policies and strategies, predominantly urban-oriented and technocratic in nature, have proven insufficient in addressing the specific needs, capacities, and structural conditions of rural regions. As a result, many rural areas have experienced entrenched poverty, rising out-migration, declining living standards, and enduring infrastructural shortcomings. In response to these challenges, scholars and policymakers have increasingly called for a reorientation of development paradigms toward the activation of local capacities, with tourism emerging as a key component of innovative rural development approaches.
Tourism, as one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global economy, has played a significant role in promoting economic growth, employment creation, and more balanced income distribution. Through its capacity to connect a wide range of rural activities, including agriculture, handicrafts, and local services, tourism supports economic diversification and contributes to the revitalization of rural communities. In addition to enhancing local livelihoods and alleviating rural-to-urban migration pressures, tourism enables multidimensional flows of capital, culture, and information, which in turn contribute to the accumulation of economic and social capital at the local level.
Within this context, tourism entrepreneurship, particularly in rural settings, has emerged as a key driver of endogenous and place-based development. It provides a framework for mobilizing local resources and capabilities in order to generate and more equitably distribute economic benefits within rural communities. Consequently, rural tourism development is widely regarded as an effective strategy for addressing rural underdevelopment and strengthening the economic and social foundations of local areas.
This study focuses on tourism-receiving villages located within the broader tourism catchment area of Mashhad, Iran. As Mashhad has evolved into the country’s second-largest metropolis and a major center of pilgrimage tourism, the increasing volume of visitors has gradually extended the city’s tourism sphere of influence into surrounding rural areas. These villages, which are becoming progressively integrated into Mashhad’s metropolitan system, possess substantial tourism potential. If managed effectively, this potential can stimulate tourism entrepreneurship, create employment opportunities, improve local infrastructure, and reduce rural out-migration toward the city. Accordingly, the main objective of this study is to examine the role of tourism flows in stimulating and sustaining tourism entrepreneurship within this regional setting.

Methodology
This applied study adopts a descriptive–analytical approach and relies on library-based and documentary sources for data collection. To assess tourism entrepreneurship, standardized indicators derived from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) were localized and refined through consultation with a panel of fifteen academic experts, resulting in thirty-six items grouped into fourteen indicators and structured across three analytical dimensions. Primary data were collected using a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire administered to rural entrepreneurs.
Tourism flows were analyzed across three dimensions, namely tourist, commodity, and capital flows, using eight indicators derived from institutional statistics and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. The reliability of the research instruments was confirmed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, which exceeded the threshold value of 0.70 and indicated satisfactory internal consistency. Quantitative data analysis was conducted using one-sample t-tests, Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients, and linear regression analysis in order to assess indicator mean values, examine relationships among variables, and evaluate the magnitude of tourism’s impact on entrepreneurship. In addition, spatial analysis was carried out within a GIS environment using the multi-criteria decision-making models MEREC and MARCOS, together with the Natural Breaks (Jenks) classification method.
To operationalize the study, the tourism sphere of influence of Mashhad was selected as the study area, given the city’s pivotal role in attracting millions of pilgrims and tourists each year and its substantial influence on rural tourism development in surrounding areas. Tourists’ destination choices within this region are shaped by factors such as the attractiveness of destinations, distance from Mashhad, and the quality of access routes. To delineate the tourism sphere of influence, a modified Ruppert model was applied, in which the radius of influence was calculated using appropriate distance and population parameters. In order to account for variations among Mashhad’s access corridors with respect to tourist volume, number of attractions, and route quality, weighting coefficients were incorporated into the model. Subsequently, the tourism sphere of influence for each corridor was calculated separately, and the final boundary was delineated using ArcGIS software. The findings indicate that 167 villages within the defined sphere of influence possess tourism attractions, including historical–cultural, religious, and natural sites. To determine the sample size, the n₀ formula was applied, resulting in the selection of 22 villages as the study sample. Sample villages were chosen based on the presence of multiple tourism attractions and relatively high levels of tourist visitation.

Results and Discussion
In this study, the mean values of tourism entrepreneurship indicators were evaluated using a one-sample t-test. The results show that the observed means of all indicators exceed the theoretical midpoint value of 3 and fall within a moderate to high range. The statistical significance of the results across all indicators confirms their generalizability to the study population. Furthermore, the positive lower and upper confidence intervals indicate that these indicators exert a favorable influence on the development of tourism entrepreneurship in tourist-oriented villages located within the tourism sphere of influence of Mashhad. Among the examined indicators, entrepreneurial orientation emerged as the most influential factor in promoting tourism entrepreneurship. By contrast, the mean value of the tourism flow indicator was at a moderate level, suggesting the need for supportive policies to enhance its role in strengthening tourism entrepreneurship.
The results of the statistical analyses reveal a positive, strong, and statistically significant relationship between tourism flows and tourism entrepreneurship in the sampled villages. Pearson correlation analysis indicates that tourism flows are directly and significantly associated with all three dimensions of tourism entrepreneurship, namely entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial capability, and entrepreneurial motivation. These findings are further supported by the regression analysis, which shows that the intensity of tourism flows accounts for a substantial proportion of the variance in tourism entrepreneurship (R = 0.81, R² = 0.64).
However, spatial analysis and field observations indicate that this relationship is not uniform across all villages and is moderated by contextual factors such as environmental capacity, local livelihood structures, and prevailing social attitudes. In some villages, relatively high levels of tourism entrepreneurship were observed despite limited tourism flows, largely as a result of the effective use of distinctive natural and agricultural resources. Conversely, in other villages, a strong dependence on traditional economic activities limited the adoption of tourism-related entrepreneurial initiatives, even where tourist inflows were relatively high. These findings suggest that although tourism flows represent a necessary condition for the development of tourism entrepreneurship, they are not sufficient in isolation. Instead, tourism entrepreneurship arises from the interaction between tourism demand and local environmental, cultural, and social capacities, together with the ability of local communities to respond to emerging economic opportunities.
To analyze the spatial distribution of tourism entrepreneurship at the level of the studied rural settlements, the multi-criteria decision-making models MEREC and MARCOS were employed. The ranking results indicate that the village of Miami exhibits the highest level of tourism entrepreneurship, while Andarok ranks lowest from the perspective of local entrepreneurs. Spatial classification conducted using the Natural Breaks (Jenks) method within a GIS environment further shows that Miami, Radkan, and Piveh-Zhen are in the most favorable condition, whereas Tabadkan, Darbeheshat, Khajeh-Hosseinabad, Kalateh-Ahan, and Andarok fall within the least favorable category in terms of tourism entrepreneurship.
Examination of the relationships between MARCOS model scores and spatial variables indicates that socio-demographic and environmental factors, including precipitation, elevation, literacy rate, age structure, household characteristics, and population attributes, have strong and statistically significant associations with tourism entrepreneurship. Moreover, infrastructure availability, accommodation and hospitality services, and accessibility demonstrate strong relationships with entrepreneurship levels, underscoring the critical role of service provision and infrastructure development in strengthening rural tourism and fostering local entrepreneurship. By contrast, variables such as the number of attractions, climate type, and slope show moderate relationships, while distance to water resources exhibits weak or statistically insignificant associations.
Overall, the findings indicate that the development of tourism entrepreneurship in rural areas is shaped by the combined influence of environmental conditions, socio-demographic capacities, and infrastructural and service-related factors. Accordingly, reliance on a single dimension is insufficient, and an integrated, multidimensional approach is essential for both analyzing and promoting tourism entrepreneurship in rural destinations.

Conclusion
In this study, tourism entrepreneurship is examined as a key driver of economic, social, and environmental development in rural areas located within the sphere of influence of Mashhad. The findings suggest that strengthening tourism entrepreneurship requires an approach that extends beyond a sole focus on increasing tourist arrivals and instead emphasizes targeted investment, capacity building, supportive policies, and the effective use of local environmental and human resources. Tourism entrepreneurship contributes substantially to job creation, increases in household income, reduced dependence on traditional agricultural activities, and the mitigation of rural out-migration, thereby enhancing social welfare and stability in rural communities.
The results demonstrate that tourism flows play a decisive role in shaping the dynamics of tourism entrepreneurship in the study area. Overall, tourism entrepreneurship indicators were assessed at a moderate to high level, with entrepreneurial orientation identified as the most influential dimension. Correlation and regression analyses revealed a strong and statistically significant relationship between tourism flows and entrepreneurial orientation, capability, and motivation (R = 0.81). Nevertheless, the moderate intensity of tourism flows observed in several villages underscores the need for more supportive and targeted policy interventions to strengthen their entrepreneurial impacts.
Spatial analysis revealed considerable intra-regional disparities among villages. Some villages, including Piveh-Zhen and Azghad, exhibit high levels of tourism entrepreneurship despite relatively weak tourism flows, largely due to the effective utilization of natural resources and local capacities. By contrast, the village of Darbeheshat, despite experiencing strong tourist inflows, demonstrates weaker entrepreneurial performance as a result of its continued reliance on traditional agricultural activities and the limited diversification of its economic functions. The results of the multi-criteria decision-making models MEREC and MARCOS further indicate that the villages of Miami, Radkan, and Piveh-Zhen rank highest in terms of tourism entrepreneurship, whereas Tabadkan, Darbeheshat, Khajeh-Hosseinabad, Kalateh-Ahan, and Andarok occupy the lowest positions.
These spatial variations are largely shaped by environmental, infrastructural, and socio-demographic factors, including precipitation patterns, elevation, literacy levels, population age structure, the quality of infrastructure and accommodation services, and accessibility. Overall, the findings are consistent with previous studies and underscore that the development of rural tourism entrepreneurship is the result of a complex interaction among tourism flows, supportive infrastructure, social capital, managerial policies, and environmental capacities.
Accordingly, the study highlights the necessity of adopting a comprehensive and multidimensional approach to strengthening tourism entrepreneurship in rural areas, one that simultaneously addresses tourism demand, local resource endowments, community empowerment, and institutional support. Such an integrated approach can contribute to sustainable, inclusive, and balanced rural tourism development in Razavi Khorasan Province.

Funding
This research was funded by the Tehran Urban Studies and Planning Center.

Authors’ Contribution
Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved the content of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work declaration of competing interest none.

Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.