Opportunities and Threats in the Development of Tourism Industry in the City of Maraqeh

Nowadays, tourism, as a new-fledgling industry, has a lot of economic, social, and cultural effects. In this regard, residential areas, as important centers for economy, culture, service, etc. are of great importance for tourism-related activities. In order to achieve the objectives for sustainable development in tourism, considering its social, cultural, economic, environmental, and natural dimensions, a multilateral systemic analysis seems indispensable. The city of Maraqeh, due to natural, historical, and cultural potentialities, enjoys a high capacity and, through proper planning and identifying advantages and detecting its tourism limitations, attaining a sustainable development is not far to reach. The current article aims at planning strategies for the development of tourism industry in Maraqeh to attain sustainable development. The research method was analytic-descriptive and the data were collected through library sources, document, and field studies. To analyze data based on theoretical principles and field research, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats have been determined and strategies have been offered. The results show that the city of Maraqeh enjoys high potentials in tourism both history- and culture-wise and through strategies to develop tourism which requires a comprehensive planning to redefine SWOT, the development of tourism industry in this city is to come.