Tourists’ Perspective on Ecotourism Infrastructures in Mazandaran Province of Iran

Abstract

This study follows a quantitative approach aiming at exploring the tourists' perspective towards accommodation services from Mazandaran, to identify tourists' perspective towards accessibility services from Mazandaran and to explore tourists' perspective towards facilities from Mazandaran. A questionnaire was mailed to 122 tourists from the state, regional and foreign tourists where they were re required to demonstrate their ecotourism development prospects by ranking the items as 1. Poor and 5. Strong. The findings indicated that the tourists had a complimentary view of homestay standard and operation, but they were not satisfied with tents sites in summer. Besides, the tourists were more optimistic about the road quality as well as cycling, but they did not show their interest in terms of trails and observation point's services for bird watching and skiing routes. Furthermore, the tourists ranked indicator facilities as the least favored. They believe that the café and restaurant, as well as parking areas, are not well organized and showed their concerns about the bathroom, washing equipment, waterfall, and washroom facilities.