Tourism planning: an integrated and sustainable development approach

Tavallaee, S.; Asadi, A.; Abya, H.; Ebrahimi, M.

Abstract: Qom is one of the most important religious centers in the Shiite world and it is the second largest pilgrimage center in Iran with tourism capabilities. Tourists and visitors of the city can contribute for the development of city and it can help city & apos; s economy and create new job opportunities. However, achieving these benefits and suitability becomes possible as long as necessary civil and social infrastructures are provided. The purpose of this study is to provide strategic assessment and optimization strategies for development of tourism industry to reach sustainable tourism development in city of Qom metropolis. The study uses three techniques namely; Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM), integrated environmental assessment (IEA) and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) to determine necessary guidelines for development of tourism in city of Qom, Iran. The study first uses SWOT to categorize different factors, IEA is applied to determine internal as well as external factors and finally QSPM is applied to prioritize various factors. The results indicate that the city has faced stronger weakness than strengths for development of tourism industry. However, in terms of external opportunities, there are several choices for city development.

How to cite this paper

        APA: Tavallaee, S., Asadi, A., Abya, H & Ebrahimi, M. (2014). Tourism planning: an integrated and sustainable development approach. Management Science Letters, 4(12), 2495-2502.
    

        Chicago/Turabian: Tavallaee, S., Asadi, A., Abya, H & Ebrahimi, M. 2014. "Tourism planning: an integrated and sustainable development approach." Management Science Letters 4, no. 12 (2014): 2495-2502.
    

        AMA: Tavallaee, S., Asadi, A., Abya, H & Ebrahimi, M. Tourism planning: an integrated and sustainable development approach. Management Science Letters. 2014;4(12):2495-2502.
    

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