Geography

Geography

Urban tourism development strategies with a cultural-historical approach (Case Study:Gilan province)

Document Type : Article extracted From phd dissertation

Authors
Seyyed Mehdi Moussakazemi 1
Mohammadtaghi Rahmani 2
Seyed Ali Hosseini 3
Behnaz Pourkhodadad 4
1 Geography Department, Social Sciences Faculty, Payam e Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Associate Professor, Department of Human Geography, University of Tehran, Iran.
3 Dept.of Geography, Payam-E Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
4 Ph.D. in Geography & Urban Planning, Payam E Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/iga.2024.2021402.1288
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Cultural tourism refers to a trip whose purpose is to experience and get to know the culture of a country or region. Cultural tourism is a great opportunity and a growing trend. At least 40% of all tourists around the world can be considered cultural tourists. Cultural tourism can help preserve tangible (material) and intangible (non-material) heritage in society. Cultural tourists travel to enjoy the history and heritage, culture, lifestyle, traditions, art, music, literature, architecture and religion of the destination. Traditional cultural tourists are attracted by major cultural sites and attractions. Gilan province is one of the provinces that, according to the published statistics of the national tourist census, nearly 28 to 30 million people travel to this province every year. According to the field observations, these tourists travel to this province with the aim of using the natural features. This is despite the fact that Gilan province, as one of the coastal provinces, in addition to its natural features, has many cultural, historical and even commercial attractions for planning in the tourism sector, which has received less attention from tourists so far. Examining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of urban tourism development with a cultural-historical approach in Gilan province is the subject of this research. The research questions are; what are the development strategies of urban tourism with a cultural-historical approach in Gilan province? What are the prioritizations of strategies in the development of urban tourism with a cultural-historical approach in Gilan province?
Methodology
Cultural tourism refers to a trip whose purpose is to experience and get to know the culture of a country or region. Cultural tourism is a great opportunity and a growing trend. At least 40% of all tourists around the world can be considered cultural tourists. Cultural tourism can help preserve tangible (material) and intangible (non-material) heritage in society. Cultural tourists travel to enjoy the history and heritage, culture, lifestyle, traditions, art, music, literature, architecture and religion of the destination. Traditional cultural tourists are attracted by major cultural sites and attractions. Gilan province is one of the provinces that, according to the published statistics of the national tourist census, nearly 28 to 30 million people travel to this province every year. According to the field observations, these tourists travel to this province with the aim of using the natural features. This is despite the fact that Gilan province, as one of the coastal provinces, in addition to its natural features, has many cultural, historical and even commercial attractions for planning in the tourism sector, which has received less attention from tourists so far. Examining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of urban tourism development with a cultural-historical approach in Gilan province is the subject of this research. The research questions are; what are the development strategies of urban tourism with a cultural-historical approach in Gilan province? What are the prioritizations of strategies in the development of urban tourism with a cultural-historical approach in Gilan province?
 
Results and Discussion
The results obtained from the weighted average of the social items show that the item "the amount of tourists entering Gilan province" with the highest weighted average of 3.813 is in the first place, the item "the presence of security in the urban and rural areas of Gilan province" with the weighted average of 3.640 is in the second place and The item "Acquaintance of the native people of Gilan with cultural-historical monuments in Gilan province" with a weighted average of 3.360 is ranked third. The results obtained from the weighted average of the economic items show that the item "location of Anzali Free Zone in Gilan province" with a weighted average of 3.387 is in the first place, the item "low permanence of tourists in Gilan province" with a weighted average of 3.267 is in the second place and the item "existence of Businesses related to cultural-historical tourism" ranked third with a weighted average of 3.093. The results obtained from the weighted average of infrastructure-enjoyment items show that the item "prominence of natural features of the province with a weighted average of 4.20 is in the first place, and the item "Handicrafts of Gilan province" with a weighted average of 3.987 is in the Second place, and "local music of Gilan province" were ranked third with a weighted average of 3.853. The results obtained from the weighted average of policy-institutional items show that the item "Negative advertisements in mass media against Iran" with a weighted average of 3.933 is in the first place, the item "Approval of practical and up-to-date training for
 
tourism graduates of the country" and the item "Compilation of laws of Written in order to maintain the security of foreign tourists" equally with a weighted average of 3.307 ranked second and the item "unsettled situation in the Middle East countries" ranked third with a weighted average of 3.293. From the intersection of the coefficients of the internal and external factors obtained in a coordinate system, the position of the superior strategy in the studied area is identified. Based on this, the offensive strategy shows the state of tourism in Gilan more than other strategies and is considered as the most effective strategy in the development of the province's tourism industry.
 
Conclusion
Cultural tourism is a great opportunity and a growing trend that can help preserve tangible and intangible heritage. As one of the coastal provinces, Gilan province, in addition to its natural features, has cultural and historical attractions for planning in the tourism sector. In this research, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing this type of tourism were analyzed with the SWOT model, and finally offensive strategies or SO were identified for the development of this type of tourism in Gilan province. When, according to the weighting and analysis by the SWOT model, the SO strategy is selected from among the 4 strategies, it means that in the phenomenon under investigation, there are so many strengths that one can easily take advantage of the previous opportunities by using them. The offensive strategies are: developing marketing and advertising programs (local, regional, national and international) for branding Gilan province as a cultural-historical provinceplanning to use the human resources of the host society (forming think rooms and using the ideas of tourism-hospitality graduates) in line with the development of cultural-historical tourism; Development of incentive schemes (tax exemptions - granting of facilities, etc.) to use local, regional and international investment opportunities; standardization of infrastructure as much as possible for the international registration of Gilan as a cultural-historical province; Developing joint training programs with leading countries in tourism education (to receive the most up-to-date practical training in the field of tourism and hospitality).
Keywords
Gilan province
Cultural-historical tourism
Strategies
Urban tourism

Subjects

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Geography
Volume 22, Issue 81
Summer2024, pp.1- 195.
Summer 2024
Pages 51-68