A Qualitative Model for Developing Adventure Sports Tourism in Khuzestan Province

The study is to achieve a theoretical model for developing adventure tourism in Khuzestan province. According to the purpose, this research was an applied research and according to the nature was a qualitative research. To collect the data, reviewing the research literature and interview were used. The research population consisted of sport management professors and faculty members, managers of related sport organizations and experts in sport tourism industry. That sampling done by using targeted referral chain or snowball method, and ultimately for achieve to saturation, 16 direct interviews were conducted. Then, the collected data of interviews were coded and analyzed by using the Grounded Theory (the systematic method of Strauss and Corbin and the paradigm model). Gained results of analyzing the data that obtained of interviews during the open, axial and selective coding process and recognizing the effective components indicated that adventure tourism development in Khuzestan province requires attention to various factors in three levels of underlying (environmental mechanisms), organizational (management mechanisms) and behavioral mechanisms.