Analysis of the challenges and solutions of development of bird tourism in Iran

Natural attractions of wildlife, especially birds, should be considered as a good opportunity to develop the tourism industry, especially that by replacing the bird-hunting culture with bird-watching, we can help preserve and protect this natural asset. Therefore the purpose of this study is to identify challenges and solutions for the development of bird watching tourism in Iran. This research is applied in terms of purpose, descriptive in terms of data collection and qualitative in terms of approach. The statistical population includes experts in the field of bird tourism. The sampling method is the snowball method and 16 experts were interviewed and the data were examined by content analysis method. Experts believe that for the development of this industry, there are environmental, cultural, economic and welfare, management and advertising-marketing challenges. Also identified strategies are 1- empowerment strategies including culture building, continuing education, advertising and marketing, promotion of bird watching entrepreneurship, participation of indigenous people and effective management of tourism organizations and 2- capacity building strategies, including the provision of tourism infrastructure, facilitating the legal movement of foreign tourists, improving environmental conditions, sustainable security, targeted investment and enhancing hospitality capacity. Wildlife attraction is one of the natural attractions that has been neglected. This research showed to solve these challenges and develop bird watching tourism in Iran, multiple help is needed from the government, local institutions and the people.