نصرالله فلاح تبار

Researches indicate that tourism, and specifically religious tourism, has an ancient history. This issue which is one of the significant foundations of the global economy in the twenty first century is now apparent among the nations of the globe, especially for Muslim nations, more than ever due to travel incentives and invention of various means of transportation. Since the old times, people traveled around the globe for several purposes including food, touring, trade, pilgrimage to holy places, entertainment, a variety of sports, which is continued with an increasing trend. Nowadays, one of the most common types of tourism is the religious and pilgrimage tourism which is flourished and prospered, in the light of Islamic laws and regulations, after formation of stable Islamic governments and as security is maintained. An special attention has been paid to touring and journeys in Islam religion, specifically in the word of God almighty in the Holy Quran, touring is emphasized and repeated as examples for the servants in more than tens of verses so that people act intelligently as they see the relics of the past, and in fact, these are a guiding light for those who are trying to provide themselves with spirituality and free themselves from the darkness and to bring peace and comfort besides safety for themselves. The Islamic country of Iran, has a high potential of religious tourism, and with the holy shrine of his Holiness Imam Reza (PBUH) and the holy shrine of her Holiness Fatemeh Masoumeh (PBUH) and also over 3400 known Pantheons which many of them is the shrine of great martyrs, also 8919 holy religious places, can be the vanguard of religious and pilgrimage tourism in the world and thus to benefit from its economic and spiritual effects, which we address here in this paper.

Nowadays, governments pay a special attention to tourism industry and with special measures and policies, they attempt to develop and expand it, as this industry both brings foreign currency and positively effects  on the economic growth and economic boom. In our country, however there was much less attention to the cities and villages which attracted millions of visitors and their role and position in tourism are rarely addressed. In fact, the role of tourism is neglected and or it is less utilized in planning, especially in urban and rural planning. This is while tourism is the most extensive service industry which, not in the far future and faster than before, is capacitated to emerge for increasing the level of public culture, making peace, dialogue of civilizations, understanding, friendship and amity in an international level  as a pioneer of or equal to other industries, including oil industry. The Islamic Iran, with all the historical, religious and natural monuments has considerable capabilities which should be thoughtfully utilized in the best way. Although Iran has hosted about 3,200,000 foreign tourists in 2011 and then has hosted 5,250,000 foreign tourists in 2016, however, we are still at the beginning of the road for development of this industry. Kashan city also has many precious sites of cultural heritage, which are unique in Iranian cities and in the world and in terms of tourism, especially religious, pilgrimage and historical tourism and considering  its ancient urban fabric, has the potential to attract many tourists from Iran and around the world, in a way that this city hosted 369,446 domestic tourists and 5,010 foreign tourists in the Nowouz  of 2017.  On the other hand 221,739 people of the total tourists during that period have visited Kashan’s Fin garden, of which 219,930 of them were domestic tourists and 1,809 of them were foreign tourists. Therefore, concerned authorities should apply necessary and essential approaches, so that this efficient and profitable industry provides the grounds for job creation especially for youths and bring sustainable tourism development for the ancient city of Kashan and to set high prospects for the future of this city.