Landscape Approach in Mountain Tourism; a Case Study of Alborz Mountains

In past times, mountains had numerous functions and meanings for humans and used to be considered as a holy natural element. This issue was also true in Iran. Because of the particular geography of Iran and locating in the Tropic of cancer, if mountains did not exist in Iran, the country was just a big plain. Hence, mountains in Iran have been a resource for water and life for the people and have always been important elements. Besides, the mountain has had many other functions for Iranian people and has made numerous subjective meanings for this natural element. However, over time and with the advent of technology caused by modernity, the need of Iranian people for mountains was decreased and caused a decline of its meanings in public opinions. Now, it can be just considered as a natural environment. On the other hand, tourism is the presence and experience in the environment, and knowing the environment can leave a significant effect on the perception and experience of presence. The more the information about the environment are, the better and more perfect experience can be obtained. Hence, regarding mountain tourism with such important functions and meanings for Iranian people, a comprehensive understanding is required. Mountain is a cultural element for Iranian people and recognition of cultural dimensions of the mountains can be very effective in the perception and experience of tourists. Moreover, knowing the cultural dimensions of the mountain can help the sense of belonging of place, so that tourists can act carefully to protect the natural environment. Over the decades, a new discipline has been created to counter the environment called Landscape Approach, based on which natural environment is something beyond just a view or environment and it has also semantic aspects. The approach is the same relationship of Iranians with nature, due to which they respect nature and consider various meanings for that. Hence, with the conceptual framework of the landscape approach and with using the descriptive-analytical method, the research results have been analyzed with emphasis on Alborz Mountain studies.