Geomorpho Tourism of the Southern Beaches of the Caspian Sea: Challenges and Threatening Factors

Over 15% of our country’s active population is suffering from unemployment at present. Attending to tourism industry is one way of job creation which is known as invisible industry due to its commercial importance in the economy of countries. From this perspective Iran enjoys special conditions and is quite rich in the areas of cultural tourism and natural tourism. On this basis the morphological elements of Iranian coasts assume an important and particular position. The southern beaches of the Caspian Sea (with a length of 664 Km) have proved their superiority over other coastal lines of Iran because of having natural and geomorphologic advantages. Due to the possession of potentials such as low and sandy beaches (with a mild and less than 1% slope), coastal marshes and lagoons (with particular ecologic conditions), good looking and sightly islands and peninsulas, ideal combination of mountain, jungle and sea, the existence of flowery meadows and the like along with other historical and cultural attractions, they receive millions of domestic and foreign tourists every year. Unfortunately, in recent years (particularly in the last two decades) some natural and human factors such as the rising of water level in the Caspian Sea and water advance, mud settlement and contamination of marshes, destruction of jungles, intensification of erosion, oil contamination resulting from extracting oil from fields in the Caspian, uncontrolled and decentralized construction on coastal lines and others have threatened the ecotourism of the region in such a way that it has sometimes reached a critical condition. For conserving and continuation of natural life and achieving a sustained development in the coasts under study, it is necessary that the authorities look for solutions immediately. This requires the application of appropriate, practical and scientific solutions.