Identifying the Effect of Social Media on Increasing Sports Tourism through the Mediation of the Maturity of Fans (Case Study: Tehran Enghelab Sports Club)

Objective
Tourism is a social phenomenon. Every social phenomenon, whether it is positive and useful or harmful, needs a suitable and sufficient foundation for its appearance in society. Tourism as a lucrative industry has enjoyed such an important position in the current world situation due to the development of communication technology and the formulation of work and safety laws. Although the conditions are different in different regions of the world. But the tourism industry has always been a factor in the development of the economic situation. Also, this industry can cause economic and social changes. According to their capabilities, the media play an important role in creating the context for the expansion or stagnation of activities related to the tourism sector. With precise and controlled planning, the media can shape the thoughts of the people of a society and direct their behavior as desired, and expand their desired point of view. Radio, television, publications and the Internet, and social media are indirect means of communication that have the power of direction, application of taste, mentality and can appear very efficient in the field of tourism. Visualization, needs assessment and persuasion, awareness, effective communication and use of new technology in the field of media have placed many countries among the worst tourist attraction destinations in the world. Also, according to their capabilities, the media play an important role in creating the context for the expansion or stagnation of tourism-related activities. In sports tourism, social media is also used for marketing and attracting fans; therefore, the aim is to identify the impact of social media on the increase of fan tourism in the Tehran Enghelab Club.
Research Methodology
In terms of practical purpose and terms of data collection, the current research is a descriptive-correlation type of research. The statistical population of the research includes domestic sports tourists who traveled to Tehran's Sports Cultural Complex in the spring of 2021. This complex is a place with special features that attract different tourists. This stadium has an area of ​​one million square meters, more than half of which is green space and the other half is various indoor and outdoor sports spaces. Also, Inglaeb Family Sports Complex has created the most complete facilities in the fields of golf, tennis, squash, volleyball, basketball, football, swimming, sauna, bodybuilding, martial arts, fishing, and car riding (karting) for members and their families. In this research, the available sampling method was used. To determine the sample size and due to the unavailability of the standard deviation of the population, first, a sample of 30 people was taken from the population and the said questionnaire was distributed among them. According to the assumption that the statistical population is limited and based on the following relationship, the number of samples required at the confidence level of 95%, Accuracy of 0.1, and variance of 0.62 were determined to be 240 people. A 5-point Likert scale (1- completely disagree, 2- disagree, 3- no opinion, 4- agree and 5- completely agree) has been used to measure the variables of the conceptual model. To ensure the accuracy and correctness of the research results, the technical characteristics of the questionnaire were evaluated in two sections, validity and reliability, using different criteria. In this research, construct and content validity were used to check the validity of the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to evaluate the reliability of the research variable measurement tool. Also, considering that Cronbach's alpha of all variables was higher than 0.70 and the overall alpha of the questionnaire was calculated as 0.87, it can be concluded that the research tool used has a good level of reliability.
Results
 This research has investigated the relationships between variables by using SmartPLS3 software and structural equation modeling. This method is a statistical model to investigate the relationship between latent variables and manifest variables. To check the fit of the model in three levels of measurement, structural and general, several criteria are used to check the fit of the structural model of the research using the partial least-squares method, which is the first and most basic criterion of significant coefficients or t-statistic values. The fit of the structural model using t coefficients is such that these coefficients must be greater than 1.96 to confirm their significance at the 95% confidence level. The second criterion for checking the fit of the structural model in research is that R² coefficients related to the hidden variables are endogenous to the model. R² is a measure that shows the influence of exogenous variables on an endogenous variable and three values ​​of 0.19, 0.33, and 0.67 are considered for weak, medium, and strong values ​​of R², and in this research both measures are higher than 67. 0 (criterion of strong values), so the structural model has a strong fit from the point of view of this criterion. The Q² criterion in the current research is for sports tourism (0.704) and the maturity of fans (0.544), which shows the high and acceptable fit of the structural model of the research. The value obtained is 0.799 for GOF fit. The overall research model is very appropriate and approved. The value of 3.792 obtained in the Sobel test, which is higher than the base value of 1.96, indicates the mediating role of the fans' maturity structure. The VAF statistic shows that the mediating intensity of fans' maturity is equal to 0.294, which means that the mediating effect is partial. Based on the results, the fit of the presented model is confirmed in the measurement and structure sections. Finally, to measure the main hypothesis, five sub-hypotheses have been used, and the t-coefficient corresponding to the five existing relationships has been confirmed. Therefore, it can be said with 95% certainty that social media has a positive and significant effect on the increase of sports tourism by mediating the maturity of fans in Tehran's Enghelab Sports Club in these five directions.
Discussion & Conclusion
According to the main goal of the research, which is the effect of social media on sports tourism through the mediation of the maturity of the fans, all the sub-hypotheses of the research were confirmed, for this reason, it can be said that tourism as an economic sector, according to the type The tourism place and region takes different forms. On the other hand, sports are the most common motivating factor for tourists. Therefore, sports can attract many tourists; Therefore, events that include sports are considered a type of attraction and act as a factor that attracts tourism to the destination city or country. Also, the business of sports and industrial tourism is a combination and it is so profitable that all countries, regions, and organizations in charge of sports and the sports fields themselves also benefit from it. For this reason, researchers believe that social media can increase the participation of sports tourists by creating interest and motivation in tourists in different regions. In this regard, it can be stated that for the first step, which is the recognition of needs, social media can stimulate new ideas or influence the process of changing a need to a specific desire. Finally, it can be said that the interaction between the media and tourism provides opportunities to gain deep knowledge about the consumption patterns of tourists, which inevitably shapes the way and mechanism of producing various goods and services to attract them as much as possible. As a result, tourism media is a field of study that may significantly increase our awareness of tourism processes and functions. The media can investigate the travel motivations of sports tourists in different ways. Those involved in the field of sports tourism should know the main motivations of the trips by surveying different media and preparing a program or publishing an article about the known factors. Also, new media introduce new facilities and provide new opportunities and challenges for regions in the tourism sector. In other words, the philosophy of social media is the speed of spreading information around the world with active users who have the opportunity to exchange or share an opinion, a thought, a message, etc.; For this reason, it is suggested to post image and video emails related to the team on the team's dedicated site; Because this information is more durable and fans of the team can make copies of images and video files in their personal archives on social media and share them with their friends at the right time. In this regard, tourism planners and sports teams should monitor the conversations and information about their brand on social media. Also, policymakers and researchers should pay more attention to youth tourism and try to meet their needs in the web space. Attention should be paid to the needs of visitors, including creating a personal approach and establishing intelligent, creative, and interactive communication that includes empathy and emotions. The tourism industry should consider the attitudes of sports fans regarding social media and find a popular approach to providing information on social media.