Journal of Tourism & Hospitality Research Islamic Azad University, Garmsar Branch Vol. 4, No.1, Summer 2015, Pp. 5-23 An Anthropology study of Tourist Attractions in Gilan Province villages Yaghoub Sharbatian* Assistant Professer in Anthropology, Garmsar Branch, Islamic Azad Univeristy, Garmsar, Iran Abstract Rural tourism can be defined as a tourism product, which approach accentuates the importance of supply management and marketing activities. As against conventional tourism, rural tourism has certain typical characteristics like; it is experience oriented, the locations are sparsely populated, it is predominantly in natural environment, it meshes with seasonality and local events and is based on preservation of culture, heritage and traditions. Iran is world famous for kind hospitality, friendliness, and a beautiful Landscape and villages. Beautiful historical villages and rural areas, like Gilanian villages have been visited by many foreign and domestic tourists. Definitely, Tourism industry in the villages has positive and negative consequences. Some experts focus on the positive aspects and vice versa. Some experts disagree with this industry and believe that must be prevented rural tourism. The main purpose in this paper is to investigate and Introduction of tourism centers in Gilan villages. The method in this paper is quantities and also action research and tools of data collection is documental, in-depth interview and participate. Keywords: Management, Tourist, Gilan Province, Village, Culture, Anthropology, Folklore. *Corresponding author: [email protected] Received Date: 29 April 2015 Accepted Date: 22 June 2015 Date of Print: Autumn 2017 6 Journal of Tourism & Hospitality Research, Vol. 4, No 1, Summer 2015 Introduction Rural tourism is a type of tourism that be related with the other patterns of tourism, But the most important Characteristic of this tourism is in rural areas. This type of tourism has been expanded as a separated section in some countries. Many urban residents would prefer to escape from the modern and sophisticated environment and take refuge to rural areas or less developed areas. Moreover, tourists will be achieved many experiences and be familiar with the other cultures, tradition and other areas. There are a lot of these trips in western countries. In recent years, this type of tourism has been expanded in Iran too. Beautiful historical villages and rural areas, like Gilanian villages have been visited by many foreign and domestic tourists. Definitely, Tourism industry in the villages has positive and negative consequences. Some experts focus on the positive aspects and vice versa. Some experts disagree with this industry and believe that must be prevented rural tourism. Gilan province is famous for kind hospitality, friendliness, beautiful Landscape and interesting folklore. We can help attract tourist by preserving and spreading Gilanian culture and by Introduction of tourism centers to them. Significance and Justification of Study “Over the past years, tourism has proven to be a surprisingly strong and resilient economic activity and a fundamental contributor to the economic recovery by generating billions of dollars in exports and creating millions of jobs. Gilan province in Iran, especially its villages, due to a varied landscape consisting of alteration of mountain ranges, deep valleys and unique folklore has always been suitable place for Attract tourists. Therefore, the task is to identify, to compile and to collect different Iranian ethnic folklores to introduce tourists. Aims and Objectives of the Study The objectives of this paper are limited to the followings: An Anthropology study of Tourist Attractions … 7 • To study the Ethnography of the people from selected villages in Gilan province; • To study and to investigate different forms of folkloric traditions in the selected villages in Gilan province; • To understand and analyze the relation between anthropology, culture and tourism; • To introduce Tourist Attractions of Gilan; • To understand and analyze of positive and negative aspect of rural tourism. Methodological considerations The method in this paper is quantities and also action research and tools of data collection is documental, in-depth interview and participate. Selection of Informants and Key Informants in Each of the Selected Village: Key informant interviews are qualitative in-depth interviews with people who know what is going on in the community. The purpose of key informant interviews is to collect information from a wide range of people—including community leaders, professionals, or residents—who have firsthand knowledge about the community. These community experts, with their particular knowledge and understanding, can provide insight on the nature of problems and give recommendations for solutions. The key informants in the selected villages were elders, officials of the village council, teachers, especially clergymen. The local residents and informants in these selected villages can be divided into three distinct groups: The First Group: They were ordinary people of village whom the researcher had no difficulty to communicate with. The Second Group: The people who were not that much willing to cooperate and to be interviewed, though less in number but generally opposed the presence of any stranger in their village. The Third Group: The popular and influential people in the village that the majority of their villages listen to and obey them and since the researcher has already made contact with these people in different ways and gained their trust, their relationship with the researcher was good and even in some cases, the researcher made use of these groups 8 Journal of Tourism & Hospitality Research, Vol. 4, No 1, Summer 2015 to interview people who were unwilling to cooperate conducting the research. In the selected villages, the researcher’s tool used to collect data was observation and participation, as the researcher has long presented in the villages to observe the actions and behaviors of the villagers and he has sometimes participated in some of their functions as well, to gather more accurate understanding of the implications of their actions. Of course, this method was more applicable to the behavioral traditions than to the oral traditions. The four stages that most participant observation research studies applied are establishing rapport or getting to know the people, immersing oneself in the field, recording data and observations, and consolidating the gathered information. Research hypothesis Considering that this research is descriptive so there's no need for a hypothesis. Location of the study All the villages selected for the research, Maclawan, Masuleh, Jirdeh, Seyyedabad and Loleman, are located in Gilan province. Gilan Province: Iran has 31 provinces. Gilan is one of the smallest provinces. Gilan province covers an area of 14,711 square kilometers. Gilan province is situated to the south of the Caspian Sea. To the East of Gilan is the Mazandaran Province. South of Gilan is covered by Alborz Mountain ranges. West of Gilan is covered by Talysh Mountain ranges. To the North of Gilan is the Caspian Sea. Rasht is the capital city of the province. In the year 2011, this province had a population of 2.481 million (http://www.orient-travel). Administrative Divisions of Gilan Province are as follow: Masule- Shaft-SoumaheSara-Rudbar-Roudsar-Rasht-Langerood-Lahijan- Hashtpar-Bandar-e Anzali-Astaneh Ashrafiyeh-Astara and Fuman. Characteristics of Selected Villages i. Jirdeh Village: It is located near Shaft city in Fuman County; this village is little far from Rasht city (Capital of Gilan province) as the people of this village buy their daily requirements from Rasht. According to 2015 Census, the population of the village is around 1476 people including 748 male and 728 female living in 376 An Anthropology study of Tourist Attractions … 9 households. Generally, it can be claimed that Jirdeh is very rich in terms of handicraft. ii. Maclawan Village: It is located in Sardar Jangal district in Fuman province 35 km far from Rasht (Capital of Gilan province).The total population of the village of 796 people living in 209 households. The main occupation of people in this village is agriculture and animal husbandry as well as dairy products, rice, tea and livestock. In this village, some traditional herders migrate with their livestock like their ancestors every year. iii. Masuleh Village: It is a village in County. Masuleh has 554 populations. Masuleh is approximately 60 km southwest of Rasht and 32 km west of Fuman. The village is 1,050 meters above sea level in the Alborz Mountain range, near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. The village itself has a difference in elevation of 100 meters. iv. Seyyedabad Village: This village is located in Gurab Pass district. According to 2015 Census, the population of the village is 883 people in 254 households. The village of Seyyedabad is the access road to reach the castle of Ghaleroodkhan, which is a historical and tourist attraction. v. Loleman Village: It is located in the central part of Fuman County with a population of 551 persons in 151 households. The village is enclosed by surrounding fields and gardens having a plain situation. The residents of the region are Gilaks and Talyshi. Characteristics of People in Villages Selected for the Study: The villages selected for the study are two ethnic groups, namely Gilak and Talysh. Gilaki: The Gilaki people or Gilaks are an Iranian people native to the northern Iran province of Gilan. Gilaks, along with the closely related Mazandarani people, comprise part of the Caspian people, who inhabit the southern and southwestern coastal regions of the Caspian Sea. Talyshi: Talysh (Talyshi) are an Iranian ethnic group indigenous to a region shared between Azerbaijan and Iran which spans the South Caucasus and the southwestern shore of the Caspian Sea. Talysh County, covering an area of 2373 square kilometers, is ¼ of surface area of Gilan Province .They speak the Talysh language, one of the Northwestern Iranian languages. It is spoken in the northern regions of 10 Journal of Tourism & Hospitality Research, Vol.