A Comparative Evaluation of Iran`s Tourism Economic Impacts, based on Multi-criteria Decision Making Model, Case Study: Northwestern and Central selected Provinces; A Approach

The rapid increase in tourism demand since the 1960s has led many entrepreneurs and governments in different countries to invest in this industry without a detailed analysis of its costs and benefits. This trend followed by and regional inequalities as well as economic, environmental and social problems. By identifying regional inequalities also finding the source of these inequalities, effective solutions can be provided to reduce it and the integrated dynamics of different regions. Therefore, the present study aims to measure the inequality of tourism infrastructure development in the central and related provinces and examines the role of tourism development in reducing regional inequalities. In this study, the statistical population and sample were selected as cluster random sampling including 384 people via documentary and library studies as well as field observations and questionnaire. Data were analyzed by statistical tests in SPSS software and in order to prioritize and evaluate the criteria and layers of information in relation to their weight, multi-criteria decision analysis methods based on TOPSIS method were used. Economic function of tourism in the component of regional inequalities in the studied areas based on the results showed that Isfahan province with a coefficient (0.829) is first, East Azerbaijan with a coefficient (0.784) is second, Yazd with a coefficient (0.779) is third, Kerman province is fourth with a coefficient (0.778), West Azerbaijan province is fifth with a coefficient (0.756) and Ardabil province is sixth with a coefficient (0.749). As a result, the most economic effects of tourism on the regional development are seen in Isfahan province and the least in Ardabil province. Considering the final results of the model, it can be said that the central regions have more economic and tourism functions than the northwestern regions of Iran.