Page 17 - World Heritage and Tourism Innovation

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

water, electricity, and gas bills, and that eco-lodge relatives. Furthermore, although online selling on so-
should not be closed and depreciated due to the lack cial media did not provide direct financial benefits,
of people because when the furniture is not used, it it led to more familiarisation among people with the
has deteriorated. And termites and pests damage the eco-lodge and its activities. In terms of monetary ben-
building. The profitability of the eco-lodge itself was efits, these activities resulted in minimum profitabili-
lower than before the Corona- not zero, but it was not ty in a short time. Still, it brought more benefits later
very high. Parents used to come with their children and helped the eco-lodge continue operation without
initially because they were stressed. It made it diffi- closure.
cult for us because there was a limit. We had to say for
wearing the mask, and we had to accommodate any Conclusion
family in one room. And we did the disinfection steps This research consists of two parts. In the first phase,
before them so they would be relieved that everything the sustainable-oriented innovations of an eco-lodge
was safe here. After the disinfection process, we pre- located in UNESCO’s World Heritage Site were ex-
ferred that if the weather was cold, we would work in plored. These innovations were introduced based on
the hall, the heating and air conditioning system was sustainable tourism’s environmental, economic, and
available, and the windows were open. And if it were socio-cultural principles during the two periods be-
sunny, we would work outdoors and in the yard. Re- fore and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the sec-
cently, when people were less sensitive, the number of ond phase, the authors conducted a semi-structured
our groups, initially 6 or 7 people, had reached 30 by interview with the eco-lodge owner to deeply under-
the end. The families safely sent their children, and stand his experiences, thoughts, or behaviours in fac-
they attended the courses much more willingly. Early ing the pandemic. According to the findings, the own-
in Corona, we made very little profit, but late in Coro- er’s primary motivation to revitalise the eco-lodge was
na and in the last few months, it was more and more to count on an increase in the number of tourists due
because those who had seen the environment of the to the listing of Yazd on WHS. From the beginning, he
eco-lodge early had told their friends and relatives, has followed the principles of sustainable tourism by
and their number increased. The cost was unimpor- respecting the environment, sharing economic ben-
tant to the families because they had a challenging efits with locals, and offering a first-hand experience
time and wanted to attend the courses. People were for guests. Having a long-term vision based on the al-
already accustomed to the condition of Corona and ternative forms of tourism –educational tourism– in-
accepted that it had become a part of their lives. stead of relying solely on the income of tourist accom-
Selling online was not very profitable for us. We modation and focusing on the local community as his
even had some difficulties because we were not famil- main customers helped him adapt his business to the
iar with it. But it made us visible in cyberspace and difficult conditions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
was a kind of advertisement for us. Because recently In this regard, he supported his activities by following
we had guests to stay in the eco-lodge who mentioned hygiene, social distancing, and advertising on social
this themselves.” media. The findings indicated an eco-lodge in a devel-
Långstedt et al. (2022) argue that countermeasures oping destination could survive amid the COVID-19
such as hygiene and social distancing are deemed a pandemic without using financial support from the
significant source of safety for most customers in the government and only by applying simple and appli-
hospitality industry. His words indicate that he has cable sustainable innovations. It is important because
tried to create a sense of security for participants by previous literature proposed applying new technolo-
following health protocols. Consequently, their satis- gies as a mainstream solution. At the same time, most
faction has acted as a marketing tool in such a way that tourism businesses in less developed destinations have
it encouraged them to retake the courses and caused challenges accessing digital technologies due to poor
them to introduce the eco-lodge to their friends and infrastructures, high costs, etc. Although the public’s

Proceedings of the 7th UNESCO UNITWIN Conference | 13