Economy

In the last half-century, tourism has been considered as one of the most efficient factors in socioeconomic reconstruction and development of rural districts and non-urban areas. Tourism can be nominated as driver of peace, because it underlies friendship and mutual understanding between nations and brings peace without polluting the human environmental interactions unlike other productive industries. Today, tourism is a promising activity which is reminded as development pathway. In recent years, tourism as a new form of industry has had many effects on economic, social and cultural status of the world. Job creation, regional balance, helping to global peace, helping to investment on cultural heritages, improvement in the environment conditions, helping to improve wild life, development of rural districts which are endowed with tourism attractions and preventing migrations and etc. are some advantages of this industry. Iran is a country which has many different tourism attractions. Our country is among top ten in terms of tourism attractions; it is among top five countries in terms of tourism variations and among top three countries in terms of variations in handicrafts. According to tourism ranking in South Asia, tourism is dominated by Iran after India. It can be said that Serein County is the most attractive county in some seasons in Ardebil province. It can be said that Serein County is the most attractive county in some seasons in Ardebil province.

Methodology 
Regarding its aim, this study is a practical one and regarding its methodology, it is a descriptive-analytic one. Data collection has been done by literature review, field study and using questionnaires. To analysis data, we have used a statistical test, T-Test which is considered as a parametric test. This test uses data with interval scale and ratio scale regarding the parametric test. The design of the questions can be changed to numerical indicators, so numerical equivalence is used in the form of Likert scale, describing the situations as very low to very high. The populations (or elements) are considered as the people with mutual characteristics including Hostess population of Serein and experts in the region. For sampling, Cochran Formula is used. For residential households which are 600 people, considering reliability level of 95%, and 6% possibility of acceptable error of estimation in sample size according to conducted surveys, these samples are 260 people and the population of experts regarding reliability level of 95% and 6% possibility of acceptable error of estimation is 56 people. Since organizational experts were unavailable in this region, the total number of people for distributing the questionnaires was 33 ones, so all of them were considered in questionnaires distribution.
Discussion and Conclusion
Even though our country is potential in tourism, it is taking the first steps and comparing other countries, the country still fails to find an outstanding position for itself in the world. The results show that by cooperation of private section, necessary infrastructures in tourism section have been developed partly and some standard hotels and accommodations have been constructed. On the other hand, visiting hot springs is possible in every season because of its conditions. So, we can consider it as a yearly active industry. Iran has many hot and mineral springs which have healing characteristics for many diseases and building hospitals with expert staffs and specialist doctors can create a good situation for medical tourism in the world. Springs in Iran, especially hot spring in Serein, are not introduced to the world and this causes that hydrotherapy be generally an attraction just for domestic tourists. Job creation and foreign exchange created by hot spring are some advantages that undoubtedly can be used for healing diseases and attracting domestic and international tourists by suitable and extensive announcements and also investment and cooperation of private section in development of accommodations and welfare centers. Documents and records of municipality for issuing building permits from 2003 to 2010 showed that in this period of time the number of issuing building permits increased which explains the constructions expansion and spatial-physical expansion during these years. The meaningful relation between spatial-physical changes in Serein during the exploitation of hydrotherapy treatment springs creates a meaningful relation between vertical expansion of Serein and tourism infrastructures and the conclusion of questionnaires about changing Ardebil to be the capital city of the province which were distributed among householders, experts and managers and its impact on Serein spatial-physical development and development of Serein because of its mineral springs and natural characteristics. So, the following strategies are notable about Serein:
- Presenting a comprehensive plan for tourism development in accordance with rural and small town development;
- Controlling irregular constructions of accommodations;
- Good planning for `physical-spatial development and presenting strategies in suitable directions in Serein;
- Avoiding unauthorized constructions on the farms around the city.

Tourism industry cannot be only considered as a way of recreation and escaping from daily routines. Of course, by use of strategic planning and principles of sustainable development in tourism, we can develop the economy of countries. So far, tourism industry has been gradually developed in all parts of human society. Moreover, its connection with society and different aspects of human culture aroused the emergence of different trends. Tourism industry is one of these trends. Tourism is one of the oldest and most booming industries all over the world. Since tourism expenditure plays a decisive role in tourism economy, religious tourism can cause significant changes in the economic conditions of local communities. It is notable that tourism industry has the two core elements of supply and demand. Following this approach in tourism industry indicates its remarkable effect in the economy tourist destinations and, consequently, local communities. So, it can reveal the importance of studies on types of tourism including religious tourism to assess its economic impacts on the development of rural communities.

Tourism industry is one of the most effective approaches which is influencing in the reconstruction and development of rural areas and has been considered by planners and managers since previous decades. Oji Abad is a village in Amol County, Mazandaran Province. The presence of Astane Hazrat Abolfazl (AS) in the center of the village and its being close to sacred edifice, has made a booming religious complex there. Considering its potential capacities, the basic question is that what are some impacts of the presence of pilgrims, especially religious tourism, on the development of Oji Abad? And in which aspect these effects are more notable?

This is an applied study of descriptive-analytical type. Required data for the research have been already collected from documentary and field studies (by surveys and questionnaires completed by rural residents). Questionnaires have been completed in person. The information have been coded and then analyzed in SPSS software. The statistical society of the research consists of Oji Abad rural households which, according to the documentaries from rural municipality, had had a number of 350 households and 1400 inhabitants. Simple random sampling method was used and based on Cochran formula the required sample size was determined to be 152 households which have directly answered the questions. To evaluate the impact of religious tourism on each sub-criteria of the related factors (economic, social, cultural and environmental) the value of each respective sub-criteria was firstly determined using Delphi technique and quantity table of "Thomas L. hour". Then, using Likert scale, the value of each sub-criteria was added to its rating and its relative value was calculated in the total questionnaires. In the next step, NOVA test and regression analysis were used to analyze the impact of religious tourism on the four dimensions of Rural Development and to investigate hypotheses of the research.

Discussion and conclusion
Religious tourism is one of the most important and booming industries of tourism with significant impacts on different aspects of societies, especially its economy. Results from One-way ANOVA indicate that it does not equally influence the four economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects and it strongly affects economic, cultural, and social factors, respectively. Results from regression analysis confirm the same things. It can be said that religious tourism in the intended rural area largely affect the economic aspect of the local society and that the religious booming and presence of pilgrims in the village cause formation of temporary businesses, improvement of transport, service, and residential sectors. Agencies, road transportation, Supermarkets, bakeries and other businesses have achieved the greatest benefits of the boom of religious tourism in the village.
Of course, it must be said that its economic impact has not been spread enough and just affected the living conditions of a limited number of households. So, all the potential capacities of religious tourism have not been used in the villages and it needs precise management and planning. The entrance of religious tourists and pilgrims from different cultures and cultural interactions of people and local communities caused remarkable cultural changes of the host community. So, cultural aspect is located in the second place of effectiveness. But, this matter cannot be considered as the only reason of cultural changes in local societies. In addition, vast and strong activities of public media, especially in recent years, is the main reason of rural cultural interaction and changes. Social factor is ranking in the third grade for Oji Abad which means that the host community and most of other communities of tourists and pilgrims are socially homogenous with no significant differences. Finally, based on statistics from the research tests, the boom of religious tourism has had a significant impact on some parts of the rural environment, especially those parts which are directly connected with the religious system, and has led to the distribution of wastes, overpopulation and overcrowding of the village. On the other hand, it has had no effect on virgin areas, water resources and its
landscapes which have been far from the center of the religious system.