Can Deniz Köksal

The purpose of the present study is to identify and prioritize spiritual-based tourism strategies in Qom province. The present study is interpretive from the philosophical foundations point of view and is applied from the point of view of orientation. It is also a survey in terms of data collection and from a methodological point of view, it is qualitative. The statistical population of the study is the experts and managers in the field of tourism and the sampling method is judgmental. 10 experts were selected from among the samples. In order to carry out the research, internal and external factors affecting the spiritual-based tourism in Qom province were identified through reviewing the literature and interviewing experts. After the internal and external factors were screened, 15 internal and 14 external factors remained. In addition, the nature of internal and external factors was identified in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and the most effective factors were determined by using the DEMATEL technique for preparing the SWOT table. With identifying the final list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, strategies were prioritized from the perspective of research experts by ARAS method. Three strategies to support provincial headquarters, banks and entrepreneurship funds from web-based tourism businesses and social networks, defining research priorities of tourism-related organizations based on civil society support, and strengthening  training programs to justify diversity in the community and its benefits had the highest priority.

The main purpose of this study is identifying influential factors on the future of spiritual tourism and formulation of plausible scenario for it. From philosophical point of view, this paper is pragmatic, exploratory from target’s point of view and it’s practical. It’s a survey research in collecting data and its methodology is mixed. In this study, by studying the literature and interviewing with experts, the factors influencing the future of spiritual tourism were identified and then, using the Cross Impact analysis approach, the data was entered into the MIC MAC software and two key factors affecting the future of spiritual tourism in Qom province. It was found out that Facilitate versus Rigor and Culture policy which were selected among the eleven final effective factors. In the next step, four scenarios are presented in this study. These scenarios include Limited liberalism scenario, Liberal world Scenario, Negligence scenario and Authoritarian Spirituality scenario.