Scientific tourism; a phenomenological understanding of the experiences of Foreign tourists from Iranian universities

The present study attempts to understand the experience of scientific tourism and this has been investigated among the foreign scholars who have experienced scientific tourism in Iran. In this study, a qualitative research method and descriptive phenomenological approach were used, based on the need to use the lived experiences of the people involved in the research. Colaizzi’s method was used for data analysis because of its systematic nature. Until reaching saturation, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 people using a purposive sampling method. The validity of the results was obtained by referring back to the research participants and obtaining their agreement. In the end, four categories of themes were identified: the scientific, the religious, the cultural, and the economic and leisure time aspects. The findings of this study are effective in a better understanding of tourist’s behavior and future predictions. Proper application of the findings will also promote the development of scientific tourism and consequently increase the satisfaction of tourists.