Introduction to a Framework for Assessing Tourism Potential of IRAN in Regional Scale

Special climate and geographic situation of Iran has created great environmental and cultural diversity which has provided a suitable situation for tourism development in the most parts of the country. Therefore the main goal of this research is to introduction to a comprehensive framework for assessing tourism potential in different parts of the country. For achieving this aim, this research has offered a precise framework for evaluating of the tourism potential of Iran in two phases. In the first phase, different townships of a province were classified for tourism development based on their various potentials. The second phase of the suggested framework deals with designing a model for tourism development in the selected townships based on their ecological capability. For testing the suggested model on an actual sample, the Isfahan province in Iran was selected. By implementing the first phase of the model on 21 townships of this province they have been categorized in 4 classes, from 1 to 4. Also after examination of the second phase of the model on one of the rural districts in Isfahan, it was specified that the area with 10 km2 from this rural district is the best place for construction of tourism complexes.