The tourism industry is influenced by various factors, including socio-cultural developments and political relations. Especially after the 1978 Islamic Revolution in Iran, a new tourism policy brought new tourism conditions, with emphasis on pilgrimage tourism. Generally speaking, tourism is known as one of the essential elements of rural development. In Iran, there are many sacred places regularly visited by pilgrims. Some of the holy places are located in rural areas and attract many visitors. In underdeveloped rural areas, the community suffers from several socio-economic problems including poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and even depopulation. Sometimes, rural development is ignored by state planning, in favor of urban development. The government's policy of opening the agricultural market [??if it is open, why the government]. These problems lead to economic stagnation and ultimately to a decline in the quality of life in rural areas. Rural tourism offers the opportunity to create jobs and diversify the income of rural households. In recent years, the local government has focused on tourism activities. Since 2005, the Iranian state authority has played a leading role in the development of rural tourism. The Tourism Show Village (TSV) is a main project to study the possibility and potential of local resources. Additionally, TVS focuses on developing rural tourism and encouraging local residents. Rural tourism is a sustainable program aimed at supporting local society and preserving the local environment. In other words, TVS provides an essential basis for establishing sustainable local tourism in the country (Clarke, Denman, Hickman & Slovak, 2001). Rural visit......middle of paper......and low income level. The unsuitable traditional agrarian system aggravates this situation; rural land no longer supports local households. As a result, this condition is the main reason for poverty; therefore, rural per capita income is lower than the national average. Iran's rural areas suffer from poor public services, high unemployment, and high emigration rates; these factors endanger the entire structure of life. Therefore, tourism represents an additional approach to reversing the decline in productivity of rural areas. Rural tourism offers solutions to many problems facing rural areas, such as: These include economic growth, socio-cultural development and environmental development. Tourism is therefore an integral part of sustainable rural development policy. These effects of rural tourism are shown in Figure 1 (Sharpley, 2002).