درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

As one of the richest intellectual domains of mankind, Islamic culture has played a prominent role in the formation of diverse dimensions of Islamic community. In this regard, the rich Islamic art, which is intermixed with the elegance of Islamic architecture, is regarded as one of the aspects of Towhid (belief in the oneness of God) and divine worldview. Since the mankind is not a single-dimensional creature, and is innately inclined to beauty and innovation, architects have sought to create an original work imbued with spiritual meanings and themes within a material realm through reliance on their experience, thoughts, individual creativity as well as an aesthetic spirit on one hand, and the manifestation of spirituality and other notions on the other. The contemporary human, by setting out on journey on the earth, has made an attempt to seek knowledge and awareness, and Islamic architecture is considered as an epiphany of human nature as well as a manifestation of contemplation and existence in the depth of human spirit, which is believed to be one of the most significant elements of tourism. The present research is aimed at exploring the conceptual symbols in Islamic architecture originating from Islamic worldview, as the rich Islamic principles have inspired Muslim architects, whose thoughts and environment have been influenced by Islamic worldview. The present article has been written adopting a descriptive-analytical method. The results indicate that architectural elements in Iran have not been created without taking Islamic ideology and concepts into account, but rather all the elements applied are endowed with spirituality and divine symbols.

Supposing that today’s growing range of human needs with the increasing growth of technology is not only limited to material dimensions but non-material aspects are of an undeniable role in the human self-actualization. In this regard, the concept of spirituality dramatically manifests itself in different aspects of human life, even though the technological evolutions and tourism can be an important lever in this area. In this study, using content analysis techniques and using ideas of experts, we assessed the components of ‘styling the future’, ‘tourism’, and ‘spirituality’ comparing elements of these variables such that the relationship between tourism and spirituality was extracted in the form of ‘a sense of excellence’, ‘a sense of meaning’, ‘human values’ and ‘interaction with existence’. Also, the relationship between tourism and futures studies (futurology) was defined using the extracted parameters including ‘consultation prior to social and cultural reforms’, ‘future analysis and alert against challenges’, and ‘determining strategic priorities’. Eventually, in relation to these three components, the obtained results emphasized the need for taking the advantage of spirituality in the study of the tourism industry.

It is truly undeniable that tourism is a system leading to epistemology and resulting in spiritual growth and excellence. The mission of the journey lies in its spiritual achievements and eco-lodges provide the potential context for mutual interconnections and gaining meaning and excellence. Therefore, lacking emphasis on spiritual potentials of eco-lodges in the accommodation sector is the main concern of this research. The present study aims to identify the factors influencing the landscape development of eco-lodges from the viewpoint of tourists to explain and analyze the realization of the spiritual landscape of eco-lodges via the perception of the eco-lodges’ landscape. The main concern of this qualitative research is seeking what a tourist sees, what he understands, how the type of accommodation would lead him from objectivity to subjectivity and ultimately, how the perception of the spiritual landscape from tourist’s view is. Answering research questions through the qualitative method with an interpretive approach and inductive strategy has been conducted by a semi-structured interview tool. Besides, the research data is gathered via two phases of coding the general concepts and classification of concepts based on the frequency. Lastly, the findings have been analyzed and interpreted through a conceptual framework. Based on research results, staying in eco-lodge causes leading resident tourist from objectivity to subjectivity and this is derived from perception of spiritual landscape. The components of the eco-lodges’ landscape adapting with three  parameters of spirituality in tourism, lead tourists to the perception of the spiritual landscape as well as the realization of the mutual understanding of nature and man in the journey and the achievement of the meaning and spirit through accommodation in eco-lodges.

Nowadays, the generated and shared content on tourist perceptions in social media is considered a fresh and far-reaching way to introduce the concept of the destination image. Destination decision-makers attempt to use this content to provide a deep understanding of tourism supply and demand. Marketers have to be particular about it when defining a proper destination image. In this regard, many researchers have emphasized the importance of using social media to tap into tourists’ perceptions of destination because it not only helps to deepen the administrators’ understanding of the demands of this type of tourism and to propose new approaches to determine the customers’ preferences in destination marketing but also directs new products and services to satisfy the tourists to a greater extent. Depending on the type of tourism, the contexts and criteria for this kind of virtual investigation are different. For example, in cultural destinations, tourists’ perceptions of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and services and products offered in virtual contexts are regarded as a tool to assess the tourists’ perceptions of that destination. The present study assumes that a holistic approach toward the analysis of tourist perception in the virtual sphere could be a well-qualified alternative to determine tourists’ wants in cultural destinations. Content analysis, which is a practical method in analyzing visual and textual data and  therefore is quite pertinent to the analysis of tourist perceptions, was adopted as the data analysis instrument in this study. To collect the data, two frequently-visited and widely-used websites with easy access to tourists’ comments, namely TripAdvisor and Flickr , were selected so that tourists’ experiences and perceptions could be gathered more authentically and conveniently. The findings demonstrated that the analysis of perceived authenticity of cultural destinations in Iran could provide the content required to create a destination image for purposeful marketing in Iran. Perceived Authenticity was categorized into three main themes: emotional, sensational, and rational.

Pilgrimage can be considered as one of the oldest manifestations of religious tourism history and it is coupled with the formation of religions among human beings. On the one hand, the shrines of the religious personalities enjoy a special place in religious convergence, and on the other hand, it is considered a suitable platform for cultural and spiritual awareness among pilgrims. Nowadays, proper management of pilgrimage and recognition of the capacity to convert these centers into cultural hubs of the country, especially with the geographical distribution of their influence, is very important. Accordingly, it is necessary to describe and analyze religious propositions and pay attention to the potential facilities and talents of religious tourism. This research uses the descriptive-analytical method based on library documents to investigate the impact of pilgrimage institutions as an effective mechanism on spirituality and cultural life.