Establishment and Selection of Strategy for Tourism Development in Lorestan Province Based on Swot Analysis and Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix

Lorestan province، inspite of having distinct tourist areas such as: Falkol Aflak Castle، Gahar lake، beautiful waterfalls، ancient history، unique cultural heritages، strategic situation and many other opportunities like increasing travel incentive among people، Having specialists، Suitable climatic and natural conditions، is faced with weaknesses and threats in using the capacities of this area. The purpose of this study is to identify the weak and strong points، opportunities and the threats which tourists are faced with and offering proper and effective strategies. In this study، for identifying the strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats faced with، some interviews have been made with some tourists، scholors of the state administrative and organizations relevant with tourism and hotel industry and owners of travel agencies and recreational centers who had years of experiences in this field and by using Swot model، from the confluence of these factors together، the appropriate strategies in four categories of SO، ST، WO and WT was determined. At the next stage، for selecting the best strategy for development of this indystry،the quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) was used. In this study، for determining the weights of SWOT elements، a questionare was prepared based on Likert scale with 5 options and has been completed by 30 people of experts and experienced people of tourism industry in Lorestan province. The results show the suitable strategies for tourism development in Lorestan province are defensive strategies. WT3 strategy with an average of 1. 85 with emphasize on encouraging people to travel to the province and advertizing tourist attractions in the goal markets has been recommended as the best strategy.