A Proposed Sustainable Rural Development Index (SRDI): Lessons from Hajij village, Iran

• Sustainable Rural Development Index (SRDI) is a new proposed indicator.
• SRDI compare the current situation to future conditions in the development plans.
• SRDI is a novel index to evaluate tourism extension plans in the diagnosis phase.
• SRDI investigates if tourism plans lead to a sustainable rural development or not.
• SRDI explores the possibility of quantitative measurement in SWOT Analysis.

While there are many indices to gauge growth and development, there remains an ambiguity on how best to measure the development of tourism in rural locations. Current thinking emphasizes the specific characteristics of a given location and the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas depicts a requirement for participatory processes in local development. This study is inspired by implementation of the European Charter in Northern Italy, using it as a guideline. The context for this study is Hajij Village in Iran, and the approach adopted differed from that undertaken in Italy with regards to the main target, time and procedures of implementation. The study proposes the novel index based on the weighted averages of 20 variables as used with a sample of 87 members of the Hajij Community. The study explores the possibility of quantitative measurements between the weaknesses, strengths, threats, and opportunities associated with development plans.

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