Tourism Business Ecosystem for Rural Women: A Stakeholder Comparative Analysis

Introduction: Rural tourism, as one of the key strategies for sustainable development, has provided significant opportunities for the economic empowerment of rural women. However, the success and sustainability of these businesses depend not only on women's individual capabilities but also on a set of environmental, institutional, cultural, and economic factors—known as the "business ecosystem." The present study aims to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the status of the tourism business ecosystem for rural women in two counties, Soumesara and Foman (Gilan Province), and to identify the most important barriers and solutions for its improvement.

Methodology: This research is applied in purpose and survey-descriptive in method, with a quantitative approach and qualitative content analysis. The statistical population included 50 rural women working in tourism (including entrepreneurs, employees, home-based businesses, and local vendors) and 42 local managers (village heads, council members, and cultural heritage experts), selected through a census method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire with 47 items organized into 9 main components (business, financial resources, education, human capital, support, market, social, cultural, infrastructure and technology). Its validity was confirmed by faculty members of the University of Tehran, and its reliability was confirmed through Cronbach's alpha (0.76 and 0.84 for the two groups, respectively). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency distribution tables) in SPSS 26 software, and content analysis of open-ended questions with thematic coding approach.

Findings: The findings indicate that the overall status of the rural women's tourism business ecosystem from both perspectives is highly unfavorable (overall mean of 1.84 for women and 1.87 for managers out of 5). From the perspective of rural women, the components of "human capital" (1.65), "social" (1.79), and "business" (1.84) are the weakest, while "infrastructure and technology" (2.64) is the relatively most acceptable component. From the perspective of local managers, the components of "infrastructure and technology" (0.9), "social" (1.85), and "business" (1.87) are the weakest, while "culture" (2.95), "support" (2.69), and "education" (2.54) are in a moderate status. Content analysis of open-ended questions showed that the most important barriers include lack of physical infrastructure (12 repetitions), household financial weakness and lack of government support (8 and 7 repetitions respectively), and weakness in business education (6 repetitions). Proposed solutions mainly emphasized the development of skills training, improvement of transportation and communication infrastructure, provision of targeted financial facilities, simplification of administrative processes, and changing cultural attitudes toward women's economic roles.

Conclusion: The tourism business ecosystem for rural women in the study area suffers from multidimensional damages and requires a systemic and participatory approach. The significant difference in perspectives between the two stakeholder groups indicates the need to design intervention programs tailored to the needs of each group and to strengthen cross-sectoral dialogue. By providing a localized analytical framework, this research suggests that policy-making for the development of women's entrepreneurship in rural tourism should be based on three main pillars: "human capital empowerment," "improvement of soft and hard infrastructure," and "changing cultural attitudes."





Introduction: Rural tourism, as one of the key strategies for sustainable development, has provided significant opportunities for the economic empowerment of rural women. However, the success and sustainability of these businesses depend not only on women's individual capabilities but also on a set of environmental, institutional, cultural, and economic factors—known as the "business ecosystem." The present study aims to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the status of the tourism business ecosystem for rural women in two counties, Soumesara and Foman (Gilan Province), and to identify the most important barriers and solutions for its improvement.

Methodology: This research is applied in purpose and survey-descriptive in method, with a quantitative approach and qualitative content analysis. The statistical population included 50 rural women working in tourism (including entrepreneurs, employees, home-based businesses, and local vendors) and 42 local managers (village heads, council members, and cultural heritage experts), selected through a census method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire with 47 items organized into 9 main components (business, financial resources, education, human capital, support, market, social, cultural, infrastructure and technology). Its validity was confirmed by faculty members of the University of Tehran, and its reliability was confirmed through Cronbach's alpha (0.76 and 0.84 for the two groups, respectively). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency distribution tables) in SPSS 26 software, and content analysis of open-ended questions with thematic coding approach.

Findings: The findings indicate that the overall status of the rural women's tourism business ecosystem from both perspectives is highly unfavorable (overall mean of 1.84 for women and 1.87 for managers out of 5). From the perspective of rural women, the components of "human capital" (1.65), "social" (1.79), and "business" (1.84) are the weakest, while "infrastructure and technology" (2.64) is the relatively most acceptable component. From the perspective of local managers, the components of "infrastructure and technology" (0.9), "social" (1.85), and "business" (1.87) are the weakest, while "culture" (2.95), "support" (2.69), and "education" (2.54) are in a moderate status. Content analysis of open-ended questions showed that the most important barriers include lack of physical infrastructure (12 repetitions), household financial weakness and lack of government support (8 and 7 repetitions respectively), and weakness in business education (6 repetitions). Proposed solutions mainly emphasized the development of skills training, improvement of transportation and communication infrastructure, provision of targeted financial facilities, simplification of administrative processes, and changing cultural attitudes toward women's economic roles.

Conclusion: The tourism business ecosystem for rural women in the study area suffers from multidimensional damages and requires a systemic and participatory approach. The significant difference in perspectives between the two stakeholder groups indicates the need to design intervention programs tailored to the needs of each group and to strengthen cross-sectoral dialogue. By providing a localized analytical framework, this research suggests that policy-making for the development of women's entrepreneurship in rural tourism should be based on three main pillars: "human capital empowerment," "improvement of soft and hard infrastructure," and "changing cultural attitudes."