Identifying the Challenges of Sustainable Tourism Development in Kerman Province

This research aims to identify the challenges of sustainable tourism development in Kerman province. Tourism as a multidimensional phenomenon has been growing steadily and increasingly. Kerman is the largest province of Iran with its diverse climate and attractions and has many advantages in the field of tourism. In this research, using themathic analysis method, through semi-organized interviews with academic experts and private sector activists and interviews of executives reflected in the media, an attempt has been made to identify the challenges of sustainable tourism development. The result of the open coding stage is the identification of 85 challenges for the development of sustainable tourism in Kerman province. In the next step, the concepts are categorized into eight themes. These themes are: 1) Policy and planning challenges 2) Management and administrative challenges 3) Transportation and communication challenges 4) Hotel and accommodation challenges 5) Advertising and information challenges 6) challenges of Infrastructure Welfare and recreational facilities 7) Challenges of education and tourist guidance 8) Environmental challenges. Each of this themes includes challenges that are conceptually related to each other and explain a specific dimension of sustainable tourism in Kerman province.