Explicating the Model and Strategies of Sustainable Tourism Development with the Knowledge Based Approach (Case Study: Isfahan City)

Knowledge-based tourism as a new and inevitable approach in the present age has been developed and even in some developing countries, is rapidly expanding. Knowledge-based approach of tourism in Iran has been shaping unevenly in its different provinces and cities. Cultural, scientific, technological and economic issues particularly knowledge-based economy and national policies and planning are among factors affecting the degree of knowledge-based tourism development. In the present study, using a web-based questionnaire sent for elites, the data were collected using SWOT and QSPM techniques and factor analysis, the most important factors affecting the creation and development of knowledge-based tourism were identified and ranked in the City of Isfahan. The results indicated that the most important extracted strategies are as follows: paying attention to research centers for doing applied research in knowledge-based tourism fields particularly technology management for appropriate policies for entering knowledge-based technologies; reinforcing centers connecting universities and tourism industry and also required utilization of the attention of authorities of the city to knowledge-based issues in provincial macro planning for making policies in implementing electronic and knowledge-based tourism.