Determining the Ecotourism Approaches and Policies for Developing Rural Areas

Tourism industry is one of the new economic, social, and ecological opportunities which are growing due to the world increasing needs. Iran because of having various potentials has been considered as one of the canons of tourism. Therefore, its natural attractions, outstanding sights, and fantastic weather conditions have all made it possible for developing ecotourism in this country. Thus planning using a new cooperative approach can be applied to make use of the ecotourism potentials. Qarib Mahalle district, due to its geographical strategic state possesses a lot of potentials to be an ecotourism center. The goal of the present study was to analyze the existing ecotourism opportunities in Qarib Mahalleh district. The SWOT model and a mixed design of the study were used to investigate the use of ecotourism in the area. 122 expert persons helped the researchers to do so. The obtained results showed that the conservative strategies in the matrix of quantitative strategic planning and also developing the agricultural tourism to make better use of sights and gardens for earning are the best strategies.