Introduction

Nomadic ecotourism is a form of sustainable tourism that provides an alternative source of livelihood to the indigenous community, leading to environmental protection and creating social and economic benefits for local communities.

Purpose

This research was also conducted to provide a model for sustainable nomadic ecotourism in Kermanshah province.

Methodology

In this research, a mixed (qualitative-quantitative) exploratory approach was used. The target population in the qualitative phase included senior experts and managers of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, and the Nomadic Affairs Organization of Kermanshah Province, which was theoretically saturated after conducting interviews with ten people. After identifying the principal axes, in the quantitative phase, a questionnaire was prepared and distributed among 148 people using a stratified sampling method with proportional assignment from the statistical population that included employees and experts of the two organizations of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Nomadic Affairs Organization of Kermanshah Province.

Geographical area of research

The territory studied in this research is the nomads of Kermanshah province.

Results and discussion: The main themes identified in the qualitative phase included the use of natural potentials, utilization of resources, socio-cultural factors, educational and promotional factors, policymaking, and economic growth and income generation. In the quantitative phase, the average values of the variables ranged from 3.45 to 4.18, indicating that the status of the variables varied from average to good. The results of the factor analysis, which confirmed the model's fit, showed that the use of resources, policymaking, socio-cultural factors, and economic growth and income generation, followed by the use of natural potentials of the region, and educational and promotional factors, had the highest factor loadings of 0.65, 0.63, 0.58, 0.57, 0.59, and 0.62, respectively. These factors were the most important in explaining the sustainable development model of nomadic ecotourism.

Conclusion

With the belief that increasing economic power, preserving environmental resources, and protecting cultural-social heritage are the cornerstones of sustainable tourism, whose main mission is to achieve sustainable development, Nomadic tourism is one of the most important areas of this approach. Based on this, the present research has identified the main development paths of nomadic ecotourism in Kermanshah province by presenting a model. Therefore, the results of this research can be the basis for policymakers to achieve sustainable development of nomadic ecotourism.