Identifying Factors Affecting the Adoption of Sport Tourism in The Desert (Case Study: Yazd University Students)

Introduction
Sport tourism is a type of recreational trip where tourists temporarily leave their home to participate in sports activities, watch sports events or go to places that are related to sports activities. In other words, sports tourism is a phenomenon that is socially, economically, and culturally significant because of the unique interaction between an activity, people, and place. Many residents of Europe, who are deprived of this natural blessing of the world, consider desertification to be an attractive field of tourism. Domestic and foreign tourists can be attracted to Yazd province by its traditional, historical, cultural, geographical, and climatic architecture, handicrafts, and desert attractions. One of the most important features of the Yazd desert is its suitable space for activities and entertainment for different age groups, from children and babies to adventurous young people and middle-aged people. They can engage in various activities such as walking on sand dunes, watching the surfaces of salt marshes, salty rivers, seeing the clear sky and stars at night and the sunrise. The literature and research background indicate that the majority of research has concentrated on the factors or obstacles that contribute to the development of tourism in the desert, or the motivations of tourists. There is no research on sports tourism in the desert. Considering the high reception of foreign tourists from the city of Yazd and the variety of tourists who travel to Yazd from different parts of the world, solutions have been provided for the prosperity of the tourism industry in the city of Yazd as well as the country's tourism. It is important to consider the possibility of resolving tourism problems and increasing the number of foreign tourists in the regions. Nevertheless, the standard of living is slowly rising, and physical and mental health, recreation, and free time have become necessary for everyday life. It is crucial to address this issue by meeting people's diverse sports needs and improving their healthy living standards. Sports tourism as a means of maintaining physical and mental health and spending leisure time has many advantages. Promoting and developing tourism and economic prosperity


 
can be achieved by developing sports tourism in the deserts of Yazd. Thus, the researcher decided to determine the factors that affect the acceptance of sports tourism in the desert by students at Yazd University.
 
Material and Methods
The current research was applied for specific purposes and used descriptive-correlational data collection methods. The statistical population of this research was the students of Yazd University, of whom 375 were selected as a sample according to Morgan's table using a simple random method. The research tool was the Alam Talab questionnaire (2014), whose validity was obtained by asking the opinions of experts in the field of sports tourism, and its reliability was obtained through Cronbach's alpha of 0.89. During descriptive analysis, SPSS version 26 software was employed, and Smart PLS version 4 software was utilized for structural equation modeling.
 
Results and Discussion
It was discovered that among the individual factor variables, the factor of obtaining pleasure and relaxation, which has a factor load of 1.199, is the most significant factor than physical fitness with a factor loads of 1.040. Among the variables of social factors, the mass media factor with a factor load of 0.929 is the most important item and the peer factor with a factor load of 0.724 is the least important item. The positive and significant effect of enjoyment and relaxation on the acceptance of sports tourism in the desert was confirmed, but the effect of fitness, mass media, family and peers on the acceptance of sports tourism in the desert was rejected. According to the coefficient of determination value of 0.124, the model does not fit well. According to the obtained results, it is suggested to have group tours with trained tour leaders during the competition season, preferably in autumn and winter, and with discounts or free sports insurance for emerging desert disciplines such as camel riding, sand riding, off-road, paragliding and Shooting with flying targets should be held in the deserts near and far of Yazd city. It is appropriate to provide extensive information about these events through mass media and national and local social networks. It is essential to prepare and make available to tourists complete and detailed maps of the routes, attractions, sports tourism facilities, and information in the desert camps of Yazd city. Finally, a specific trustee body in the tourism industry should be accountable for overseeing the activities of sports tourism tours.