Assessment of Tourism Sustainability and Determining an Optimal Strategy of Tourism Development in Bandar-e-Anzali

Tourism has always been important throughout history, but what has given a certain dimension to this activity is the potential of this activity in the field of employment and sustainable economy. That tourism has advantages and great potentials, it has the disadvantages as well, such as precariousness of moral principles and destruction of natural habitats.
Bandar-e-Anzali as one of the cities in north part of the country, has numerous tourist attractions, and is the destination of a great tourists every year. This results in many positive and negative aspects in this city. The main objective of this study was to analyze the characteristics and potentials of tourism in Bandar-e-Anzali. The method is developmental and descriptive-analytic.
The data have been collected by library and field methods. Data analysis was performed by means of stability barometer, and in designing the questionnaire, the Likert scale has been used. The population consists of Bandar-e-Anzali tourists that comprise 384 participants according to Cochran formula.
The results of the research show the average capacity of Bandar-e-Anzali's tourism with the score of 65.04, which the most effective components affecting tourism are environmental and structural components with the score of 65.04. Finally by using SWOT model, for tourism development of Bandar-e-Anzali, suggestions like potential advertising of Bandar-e-Anzali were presented in order to attract foreign tourists, collaboration with residents to preserve the natural and man-made attractions, etc.