Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the different effects of second home tourism development and its comparative analysis from the view of owners and residents in Shirin- Dareh Region of Iran. Design/methodology/approach – Applied methodology is based on empirical studies and descriptive-analytical methods. In order to do this, seven rural areas were selected with 1,188 households as the volume of sample society by Cochran formula, and 218 questionnaires were distributed between them in two groups of owners and residents. Findings – There is a strong correlation between second home tourism development and changes in social, economic, physical and environmental dimensions. The impact of the variable of the second home tourism development on changes in rural life was approximately 0.449 which reveals the average impact of second home tourism in the study area. Investments by none-indigenous with a co-efficient of 41.8 per cent have had the greatest role in different changes in rural life. Research limitations/implications – The generalizability of results to other countries is limited. Practical implications – This study and studies similar to it have led to adopted comprehensive approaches to tourism and second homes in Iran and other Third World countries. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the literature by including socio-economic variables in the domestic tourism and second home model. So this paper has a new subject and in practical aspects it tries to take a general solution to second home tourism on rural settlements development in Iran.

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