The untapped potential of sustainable domestic tourism in Iran

Abstract

The majority of tourism literature focuses on international tourism; however, domestic tourism for specific destinations, such as Iran, can contribute to job creation, heritage protection, regional integration, and cross-cultural understanding. The market for domestic tourism in Iran has been downplayed and its true value has been underutilized. This study assumes that the present apathy towards tourism is reinforced by the public sector’s lack of decisive governance towards the tourism industry where the public sector “can best act to mediate contemporary tourism-related social, economic, political and environmental policy problems” (Hall, 2011, p. 439). Drawing on “culture-ideology of consumerism” and “ecological economics” theories, study revealed that critiques of international mass tourism have convincing argument that domestic tourism is a domestic investment with a sustainable agenda.