Study of Tourism Status of Khuzestan Province in Comparison with Other Coastal Provinces of Southern Iran With Emphasis on Marine Tourism by TOPSIS Method

Marine tourism attracts a lot of tourists every year for the countries that have access to the sea and have been able to use this opportunity and potential, and has led to the development of these areas. In Iran, the northern and southern provinces also have this potential. The northern provinces have been able to make more progress in the field of tourism due to the different climatic conditions, the existence of green and forested areas and the access of a large population. In the south of the country, Kish Island is a successful example in attracting sea tourists. 85% of the length of the coast is in the south of the country, the southern provinces have not been able to use this potential. One of these provinces is Khuzestan, which has better access than the other southern coastal provinces, but has not been able to use it well. This study aims to investigate the position of Khuzestan among the southern coastal provinces in tourism with emphasis on marine tourism, from various indicators, sub-indicators and components to compare the potentials and capacities used in these provinces and using the method TOPSIS benefits.The results show that Khuzestan is in the second place after Hormozgan province and then Bushehr and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces are located. Khuzestan ranks first in the access and non-marine tourism attraction , second in the infrastructure index and number of marine tourists and fourth in the marine tourism attraction index among the four southern coastal provinces.