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Mohammadhossein Dehghan Pour Farashah et al. Exploring the sustainability in a Rural Area

Figure 2 Aerial Photo of the Ecolodge

4. Reasons for shifting from tourist accommodation principles, including environmental, economic, and
to implementing alternative activities after the socio-cultural aspects in the periods before and dur-
outbreak. ing the pandemic, is shown in Tables 1 and 2.
5. Benefits of the innovations.
Semi-structured Interview
The interview was conducted with the owner of Respondent Profile
the eco-lodge in the Persian language. With the per- The owner is a 34-year-old male, married, with a
mission of the interview participant, the session was master’s in conservation and restoration of historical
recorded. Then, it was transcribed verbatim and trans- buildings. He manages the eco-lodge but also teaches
lated into English. The collected data were analysed as an adjunct lecturer at universities.
using thematic analysis techniques. Thematic analysis
is an appropriate method to better understand expe- Analysis and Interpretation of the Semi-Structured
riences, thoughts, or behaviours across a qualitative Interview
data set (Braun & Clarke, 2012). Following the proce- In analysing the interview materials, themes from the
dure, we identified codes and themes, as Braun and owner’s responses were extracted.
Clarke (2006) suggested. In the analysis process, two
of the authors participated in decreasing bias. Q1 Why did you decide to rehabilitate this historic
building as an eco-lodge?
Documentary Research He responded: ‘Well, this building is my ancestral
According to the collected data, the categorization mansion, which was being demolished. We rehabili-
of the eco-lodge activities based on the sustainability tated it as an eco-lodge to ensure this house does not

Proceedings of the 7th UNESCO UNITWIN Conference | 9