Presenting a Model for Development of Religious Tourism in Mazandaran Province (Case study: Sari city)

Religious tourism is one of the most important current types of tourism in the world and especially in Islamic countries such as Iran, which has a high potential for development and progress in this field. However, development of this type of tourism in our country is not restricted to only religious cities, but includes other cities in Iran. Sari city in Mazandaran province with its religious-pilgrimage functions provides an appropriate ground for the development of religious tourism as one of the main forms of tourism. In the present research, it was first conducted a set of observations in the region after studying library documents using field method. After analyzing data obtained from the observations, research questions were evaluated by three groups, including organizations, experts and local community. The results were quantitatively examined by SWOT analysis. Finally, according to extracted concepts from qualitative and quantitative analysis, it was obtained a model for the development of religious tourism based on library and field studies using interview and then evaluated by experts. Results show that religious places of Sari city aren’t on the list of development priorities. It encounters to present a model for development in this region more challenges. Therefore, qualitative and quantitative analysis results of this research imply a very appropriate situation and high potential for religious tourism emphasizing Imamzadehs in Sari city.