Authors
1 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran
2 Master of Geomorphology
Abstract
Geotourism, as a subcategory of ecotourism, has, along with other tourism areas such as rural, cultural, etc., a potential for employment of a great number of related professionals. This industry can have an effective role in the economic development of the country, which is why tourism industry is considered the most important industry in the world. Of course, the idea of a large number of experts and non-experts concerning tourism industry is merely recreational tourism, which is contrary to the new perspective of the subject in the world. In fact, today in many cases tourists from advanced societies are looking for science, culture, and ecological, geomorphologic and geologic attractions. It is worth noting that this industry is still not well known in Iran and potential capabilities of Iran have not yet been evaluated in this regard. With a variety of geomorphologic and geological structures, Iran has a wide variety in this regard and calls for new grounds in the field of tourism industry in the country. According to the abovementioned matters, the identification and marketing of geotourism and ecotourism phenomena in Iran in order to exploit this great potential is unavoidable.
In this article, while studying concepts and dimensions of geotourism, it is tried to discuss some of the geotourist general qualities and attractions of Iran.
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