GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM SPACE
Year:2017 | Volume:6 | Issue:23 |Papers Count:8

Geo-tourism is one of the most important types of tourism which has become very popular during recent years. This study is an analysis of geo-tourism attractions in the northern slope of the Sabalan mountains in Ardabil such as Ghoutoor-Sooyi hot springs, Shabil hot springs, Ghynerjeh and national park of Meshgen-Shahar،Shirvan valley, Goorgoor falls of Sabalan based on a SWOT strategic model. Using  this model, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats which are related to the development of geo-tourism in the area understudy were checked. As a result, twelve strengths, twelve weaknesses, fourteen opportunities and twelve threats were identified. Furthermore some approaches were presented in order to develop geo-tourism in the mentioned area.

In today's world tourism has turned into a high income industry which is called tourism industry. In the present days most of the countries have high income tourism. Thus concerning the importance of the place of the study, in this research the tourism index of TCI was used to identify the suitable months of the years in terms of tourism in Sistan and Baluchistan Province. For this purpose, monthly data from weather stations of Sistan and Baluchistan Province for a period of 20 years from 1990 to 2010 were used. The results showed that the province did not have satisfactory conditions during the summer in terms of tourism. However in the cold seasons of winter and fall, or during January, February, March, October, November and December lots of tourists were in good conditions. Some cases, like Chabahar, due to special conditions like proximity to the sea in summer were excellent tourism centers (TCI score between 70 and 100) and had favorable conditions for tourism.

The growth in tourism industry while ignoring potentials and carrying capacity of the land can lead to serious environmental damages in long-term. Understanding the potential and proportion of land and using the quantitative methods to estimate the amount of utilization of existing resources have an important role in land use planning and management processes.  Baneh has been the host of a large  number of tourists during the last decades and thus needs to improve its tourism infrastructures.  Dokanan tourism area was suggested in order to meet this requirement. In this paper, suitable areas for recreational activities in Dokanan area of Baneh have been detected using AHP-FUZZY method. Then based on the results of ecological land evaluation, physical and real carrying capacity of the case study has been estimated. The carrying capacity has been estimated concerning two cases: 1- for the whole area according to its capability and 2- according to zoning of area design. The results indicated that the second case gives more accurate and purposeful responses in comparison with the first one which could be used in recreational planning and management of the area.

The strategic evaluation of outlook determination for a tourism area is a must since in its effective way, it causes motivation and movement in persons to achieve an appropriate future in their life. outlook of the area is determined based on the beneficiaries’ views, the result will be the personal insights existing in the minds and hearts of the managers and employees. The present study has focused on the strategic evaluation method of tourism development in Khash using the SWOT Model. The obtained results have been analyzed using QSPM Model and have been used in understanding the operational strategy. The results indicated that the operational strategy has been effective in developing the tourism in Khash and some recommendations were presented based on this macro-strategy.

Today, tourism affects rural life from different social, cultural, economic, and environmental aspects. Awareness is important as far as the host society as a supplier of tourism products is concerned. The present study used a survey and descriptive-analytical approach to analyze the villagers’ viewpoints about the effects of rural tourism in Fash. The 226 statistical population of the study was the villagers who were selected using a systematic random sampling. Likert scale and questionnaire were used for data collection  and the  SPSS 18 software was applied for data analysis. The findings showed that there were both positive and negative statistically significant effects in the area understudy. Concerning the economical aspects, new job creation, increasing income, tendency for service oriented careers were the positive aspects; while cost increase, people’s income gaps, increasing society’s awareness, decreasing security for girls and women in the society, increasing crimes, environment pollution and destruction, and at last increasing the expectations of villagers were the significant negative aspects of economy. Therefore the villagers’ systematic planning and their active participation in tourism sector could change the economic, cultural, and social aspects of rural life and thus could decrease the existing negative environmental effects of tourism.

Today optimal utilization of actual and potential facilities and capabilities of each territory in terms its objectives is one of the main local, national and international concerns. A strategy which has recently been considered in many countries, is tourism development in disadvantaged areas with potential for tourism development. If ecotourism is planned appropriately,  it can be a starting point for achieving sustainabile development in the least developed areas. Hashilan wetland because of its biodiversity, numerous tourist attractions, animal and plant lives and other attractive natural phenomena is an important place in the western part of Iran. Human comfort condition includes a teperature which is appropriate for at least 80 percent of the population. Under such a condition, human organism can maintain its existing temperature balance in the best form, without being either deficient or using excessive energy. In the present study, the environmental factors which affect human comfort, daily air temperature in Celsius, the average wind speed in meters per second, as well as the relative humidity percentage in Kermanshah stations were used. The obtained data were related to the period from 1981 to 2017. The results showed that thermal comfort in Hashilan wetland was based on the models. The Psychological Pressure Index, Baker, and Wind Chill Index show that the four months from December to April because of the cold weather, and climatic conditions lack comfort in the Hashilan wetland. Considering the results, it can be confirmed that the use of an index alone is not enough for developing climatic comfort.

Tourism has a strong direct relationship with poverty reduction in developing countries and is still used to decrease poverty. Sustainable livelihoods framework for tourism (SLFT), as a new analytical approach in the field of rural development and poverty reduction has frequently been applied during recent years. Nowadays, the role of tourism in contributing to the development of rural areas is obvious for everyone and rural tourism as a form of tourism industry is important in rural and regional development policy and planning. This study as a survey aimed to analyze the livelihood outcomes (social, economic, environmental and sustainable institutional) of Molham-Darreh and Tarkhin-Abad tourism centers. The statistical population of the study consisted of 301 persons from rural household heads from whom 140 persons were selected as the sample group based on the Cochran formula. The main instrument for data collection was a questionnaire the validity of which was confirmed by expert professors and software experts. Also, its reliability was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (a= 0.81). In order to analyze the obtained data, the researchers used SPSS21 software. The results of factor analysis showed that four intended factors including sustainable economic, social, environmental and institutional outcomes were the most important factors affecting the sustainable livelihoods of rural tourism. In fact, 50.14% of the total variance was because of these factors. It was concluded that the planning of sustainable livelihoods based on rural tourism is the effective factor in developing and improving sustainable rural tourism.

One of the potentials of tourism in Iran is sea. Nowadays, a lot of countries pay attention to the marine water sports, water based amusements, scuba diving and other related entertainments, as well as beach tourism programs. The purpose of the present research was planning and feasibility of marine tourism in Hormoz island. This research was based on a combination model of strategic analysis and SWOT model of strategic planning to review the findings of the QSPM, library studies as well as the results of a survey of the field through interview between tourists and tourism experts. The results of the SWOT model of analysis revealed that, despite having strengths and opportunities such as possessing the Persian Gulf and the abundant opportunities, annexation of Hormoz island to Qeshm free zone and the existence of Red Soil mines and also the existence of  a variety of threats such as weaknesses and lack of tourism, Qeshm and Kish Islands had not received the necessary attention. The selected strategy prioritization table QSPM showed that from among strategy development services, recreational facilities and infrastructural needs are from the highest priority since Hormoz is closer to the province center.