Strategic Planning of Rural Tourism Development in Rural Areas of Khuzestan Province

Tourism is one of the growing industries in the world and countries in all stages of development are increasingly dependent on it. Tourism, as an intersectional industry encompasses various activities and has direct and indirect interactions with all sectors of the economy, society and culture. Shivand Village in Dehdez District of Eize township can enjoy the numerous tourism potentials. Identifying these capabilities and provide the infrastructures required for tourism development, could be a factor in the development of this region. Therefore, the present study used survey method and field studies to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats presented by the SWOT method for tourism development in the village of Shivand. Results show that beauty and unique landscapes and gardens and green fields are the most important internal strength factors and unaffordability of welfare and accomodation facilities are as the most important internal weakness factor, increase of motivation for travel and recreation is the most important opportunity for tourism development and cultivated lands and farms destruction is most important threat for tourism development in Shivand village. The study findings show that the strategies for providing and performing tourism development programs by using the state's validities, enjoying the competing advantages of the region for attraction of tourists, provision of encouraging packages for investors of private part for developing tourism facilities in the area and planning for attraction of tourists based on the created leisure time in urban socities , respectively are the most important nominated strategies for performance of tourism development in Shivand village .