Strategic Planning for Developing War Tourism Linked with other Attractions in Ilam Province

War attractions in the warfronts especially in the western and southern regions of Iran including Ilam Province, can be considered outstanding resources for sightseeing and conservation of the values of the sacred defense era (1980-1988) for next generations. Each region, for achieving appropriate and sustainable growth rate while increasing its competitiveness, needs a comprehensive and integrated planning. This paper aims at achieving suitable strategies for developing war tourism market in a close linkage with other attractions through SWOT analysis. In terms of research methodology, a descriptive-analytical research method was used, and for data gathering, library and survey-based methods including observation, interview and questionnaire were applied allowing for formulation of development strategies for war tourism. For this purpose firstly, the potentials and restrictions were identified (the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats) in SWOT format. In general, 47 advantage and strength points, and 42 weakness and threat points were recognized in the region. After the weighting phase which wastaken place by the Delphi members for each factor, the extracted strategy was manifested to be protection and conservation (Σ = 2.77 for internal factors and Σ = 2.7 for external factors). The strategy of growth and construction, owing to the positive attitude of the Delphi members and the provincial officials towards war tourism, can be considered as well in the second place. Results of this research can be utilizedin dealing with problems and obstacles of war tourism development in the region.