" Developing strategies of " Sport Tourism" in Hamadan Province"

The travel and tourism industry is one of the largest and most dynamic industries in today’s global economy، whereas sport is also an important industry in the leisure sector. Sport is an integral part of all culture and often viewed as a separate activity، but it is inextricably related to tourism. Therefore، the purpose of this study was to introduce the solutions for development of sports tourism in Hamadan province. The method of the research was descriptive –correlation. The population was the experts in tourism and sport and tourists of Hamadan province respectively. One hundred twenty-seven subjects were selected as statistical sample by stratified random sampling. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. The content and face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of expert. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to test the reliability of the questionnaire (α=0. 908). Factor analysis، with a varimax rotation was used to analyze the data. The variables were classified into seven categories: hosting the event، facilities for tourism، outdoor activities، infrastructure، ecotourism، advertisement and natural landscapes. The results showed that the most important factor is “infrastructure (4. 17±0. 16)” and the least important factor is “ecotourism (3. 56±0. 07)”.