Identifying Attractive Fisheries-Tourism Activities in the Caspian Sea Coastline: Using Delphi Technique

Fisheries tourism is one of the types of tourism that has not received much attention in Iran, despite its good status. The benefits of the tourism industry with the high potential of the fisheries and fishing industry can provide an ideal option to connect the two industries in order to leave the difficult conditions of the fishery areas and move toward development. The first step in planning for fisheries tourism development is to accurately identify the potentials and fisheries' attractions to absorb tourists. Thus, the present study aimed to identify the tourists’ attractions of fisheries using a qualitative methodology with an exploratory approach. This research was applied in terms of purpose, and is descriptive and survey in terms of nature and method. The statistical population of this study was relevant subject experts. Using the purposeful snowball sampling method, 23 experts were selected to determine the panel of the experts based on their subject expertise, experiences, and the theoretical adequacy principle. In three rounds, the attractiveness and attractive fisheries activities for tourism were identified using the Delphi technique. In the first round of Delphi, 30 attractions and attractive activities for fisheries tourism were introduced by experts. After the removal of the less important items in the second and third round of Delphi, finally, the consensus was reached about 12 attractions of fisheries tourism, in three categories of fishing and fishery, fisheries industries, and coastal aquaculture.