Investigating Socio-Economic Impact of Religious Tourism on Spatial Development of Qom Province

This descriptive-analytical study sought to investigate the socio-economic impacts of religious tourism on the spatial development of Qom province, using a researcher-developed questionnaire designed via Analytical Hierarchy Process to collect its required data. To this end, the required criteria were developed at two levels: the economic level comprising of five sub-criteria, including "Increase in employment, increase in incomes, reduction in inflation, increase in regional production", and: private sector participation", and the social level comprising three sub-criteria, including "Increasing the security, increasing the social culture, improving services and infrastructure". The results of surveying the priority of these criteria indicated the high impact of the economic element of tourism on the spatial development of Qom province. According to experts, the more economic power the people have, the better its impact would be on the social and environmental sectors of the society. Also, the criteria were also evaluated and prioritized within the study area that formed different districts of Qom province. Accordingly, it was found that the spatial development of the central district of the province (Qom city) was mostly influenced by religious tourism in terms of 5 criteria out of the 8 criteria identified in the study, suggesting that Qom, as the hub of religious tourism of the province, outweighs other parts of the province in terms of development, which may cause some problems in the future for the development of tourism in Qom province.