Strategies for the development of geotourism Case Study: Qeshm salt cave

Qeshm Island in Iran can be said gate for Geotourism. The largest island in the Persian Gulf, due to its unique geological and Biodiversity Phenomenon, High potential for becoming a major hub for ecotourism and geotourism in the Persian Gulf basin. One of the forms is longest salt cave of world in Namakdan salt dome with length is 6580 meters. with its great potentials and capabilities in the field of Geotourism development, has not been able to reach its real status yet. Therefore, this question arises: what are the potentials and limitations of developing the region’s geotourism? And, what strategies are required for developing this kind of tourism and national and regional development resulted from it? The present study, considering this aim, is of applied kind and regarding the methodology is analytical, descriptive and survey study. The population of the present study is Qeshm island and the community sample is the experts of tourism in Qeshm and bandarabbas town. To analyze the data and identify the strategies of the region’s geotourism development the SWOT model was used. The findings show that the region under study with 20 advantages and the weight score3.733, 21 opportunities with the weight score 3.960 versus 16 advantages and the weight score 3.768 , 14 threats and the weight score 3/535 , has great capabilities for developing in the Persian golf , however, the existing weaknesses and threats hinder the realization of these potentials and capabilities