Tourism and Hospitality Research (IJTHR)

This study aims to review several standard parameters to consider the impact of new technologies after the corona and during the corona in the medical tourism industry which is one of the most affected industries. This issue has been severely affected by the epidemic, in which during the first seven months of the corona outbreak, large expense has been spent. The results of our survey showed that modern software and technologies have been able to provide more comfortable conditions for medical tourism in the COVID time. The industry activists are now looking to develop travel plans during the post-crisis and post-corona period

Iran, as one of the preventive (health) tourism regions and hubs of the world, has potential preventive and health capacities. On the other hand, health tourism brings three times more currency than other areas of tourism, so it is necessary to recognize the factors affecting the attraction of health tourists in different regions of Iran. According to 9 tourist regions in this article, which include region 1 (separately 5 land management regions, which are regions 2 (East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ardabil and Kurdistan), region 5 (Fars, Bushehr, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad), region 8 (Yazd, Kerman, Sistan and Baluchestan and Hormozgan), region 1 (Gilan, Mazandaran, Golestan and Semnan) and region 3 (Hamedan, Kermanshah, Lorestan and Ilam) which in terms of health in areas with natural resources and suitable climate Comparative advantage and priority (regions 2, 1, 3, 5 and 8), preventive tourism demand (health) was estimated by the almost ideal demand method. Based on the opinion of 226 preventive health tourists in 5 land management areas, the sensitivity of foreign preventive tourism demand (health) to the effective factors and types of health tourism expenditures is measured. The results in all 5 preventive tourism areas indicate the sensitivity of foreign tourists to various macro factors such as inflation and exchange rates, the amount of personal income can be captured. In addition, the variables of relative prices (exchange rate), transportation and travel costs, medical facilities, standard accommodation, health tourism facilities, accommodation costs, health services prices, cooperation between tourism agencies and medical centers are all It affects the demand of tourists. Also, foreign tourists are highly sensitive to costs and preventive expenses in Iran and less sensitive to other expenses such as transportation and accommodation services and other expenses.

The aim of this study was analysis of rural tourism development (RTD) in Iran by exploratory factor analysis (EFA).  The research population consisted of all the experts of Organization of Tourism in Mazandaran Province (N=105), which was selected using the census method. The validity of the instrument was established by a panel of experts consisting of senior faculty members in the tourism department, and research committee advisors. The reliability of the survey instrument concluded the Cronbach alpha coefficient for all the variables with a degree scale of 0.84. Using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), five factors were discovered with components and their factor loading. The five factors were labeled (1) infrastructure factor, (2) economic factor, (3) social factor, (4) management factor and (5) cultural factor. The results obtained from the factors analysis reveal that the five following factors, infrastructure, economic, social, management and cultural explain 57.32% of the variation of RTD

English as the most popular international system of communication plays an undeniable role in the communication of various disciplines. Present study followed a quantitative approach. The study involved studying the effects of teaching tourism vocabulary on communication skills of the students of tourism and hotel management. Forty-six students participated in the study. Two groups were formed randomly; experimental and control. They took the PET test. Their scores from the PET test were used to check the homogeneity of the learners and their pretest communication skills score. The learners’ communication skills scores were the collection of their listening and speaking scores from the PET test. After the treatment, the learners took the listening and speaking tests from the PET test. Their mean scores were calculated and compared to find any significant difference. The results showed that the experimental group’s communication skills outperformed the control group. Moreover, the results of the study showed the importance of teaching vocabulary for improving communication skills of the students.  

The objective of this research is to develop the green tourism supply chain management model for the sports industry. The research method is descriptive - correlational. 140 managers and sports experts in the country responded to a questionnaire extracted from the qualitative section (systematic exploratory) including 15 variables and 59 items on a 5- point Likert scale. SPSS, Smart PLS software was used for modeling. The results showed that the effect of three environmental, tourism, and sports ecosystems on ecological management in the sports industry is important (with coefficients of 0.54, 0.88, and 0.63, respectively). The effect of green shopping on green consumption and green recycling was significant with coefficients of 0.67 and 0.43. Green consumption and green recovery variables had significant effects on the consequences of the green tourism supply chain with coefficients of 0.88 and 0.62. In general, based on research findings, green tourism supply chain management in sport manufacturing firms is systematic and result from the impact of factors associated with the ecosystem, industry, and customer point of view.

  The concept of social capital has been emphasized through its connection with the basic social components including belief, awareness, participation, trust, cohesion and social network in the direction of sustainable development of societies, especially rural communities. This study aimed to investigate the effect of social capital components on the development of rural tourism. The present research method is descriptive-analytical. The main research tool is the questionnaire. The statistical population of this study is the households of the villages in four tourist target villages in the Torqabeh village, Binalood city in Khorasan Razavi province. To measure the reliability of the research instrument (questionnaire), Cronbach's alpha coefficient and KMO coefficient were used to validate the questionnaire. Six effective institutions in rural tourism development are (etc, council, village, private sector, heritage organization, district, public sector and non-governmental sector). In terms of villagers' belief in their effectiveness, villagers' trust in these institutions and villagers' participation in the development of tourism with these institutions were examined and the research results show that from the villagers' point of view, believing in the effectiveness of any institution ensures villagers' trust in it. Institution and ultimately participation in the development of rural tourism.

Tourism, like any activity, leaves different effects, and sometimes it has left irreparable natural and human damage in tourism areas. Each tourist site has a certain capacity to attract tourists according to its potential and if these limits and thresholds are exceeded, the negative effects of tourism will appear. The increasing development of tourism and the increase in the number of tourists during the past decades have had irreparable consequences for tourism destinations. In the meantime, nature tourism destinations have been damaged more than other attractions due to their fragile nature and the high attention of tourists. This issue has drawn the attention of managers and officials to managing visitors and reducing the effects of these visits. In recent years, various techniques have been presented to manage the effects of visitors, and one of these tools is "carrying capacity". The carrying capacity determines the limits that by crossing it, the destroyed resources or the damage to the ecosystem becomes irreparable.

The present study investigated the effects of online training on Iraqi hotel management students’ speaking skills. A quantitative approach was adopted for the purpose of the study. Thirty-eight students participated in the study. Two groups were formed randomly; experimental and control. They took the PET test. Their scores from the PET test were used to check the homogeneity of the learners. Moreover, the learners’ pretest scores were considered as their speaking scores from the PET test. Based on the treatment, the experimental group received online speaking training through online applications such as Skype. On the other hand, the learners in the control group received their training through face-to-face interaction with the teacher.  After the treatment, the learners took the speaking test from the PET test. Their mean scores were calculated and compared to find any significant differences. The results showed that the learners’ speaking skills in the experimental group improved significantly in comparison to the control group. The results of the study also showed the importance of online training for improving the speaking skills of EFL and ESP students.

Teaching English for specific purposes has always been challenging as it involves a skill-based teaching methodology to develop learning and use specific grammar and lexicon to understand texts in specialized texts. As for other professions, teaching EFL learners about tourism and hotel management also requires the acquisition of vocabulary, grammar, and general communication skills in varied situations and contexts. To this end, this paper focuses on the comparison and assessment of vocabulary inferring skills of ESP learners majoring in Tourism and Hotel management. To conduct the present study, 10 contextualized vocabulary items were selected, then the VKS test (Vocabulary Knowledge Scale; Wesche & Paribakht, 1996) was administered to 56 Iranian students of Tourism and Hotel Management studying at Islamic Azad University, South Tehran branch. It was hypothesized that learners who show better general English language knowledge perform more skillfully in inferring the meaning of specialized words in Tourism and hotel management texts than less competent ones. Descriptive as well as inferential statistics proved the hypothesis. The results of the present research have implications for ESP learners and teachers as well as materials developers of Tourism and Hotel management textbooks.

The development of geo-tourism in the southeast of the Caspian seaboard with a special view on the therapeutic potential of mud volcanoes by geochemical and mineralogical methods for the first time was studied (Case study: Naftlicheh mud volcano). The results of mineralogical and geochemical studies carried out by XRF&XRD methods show that Naftlicheh mud volcano has no significant toxic substances and its main minerals are quartz, calcite, dolomite, halite, clay minerals such as smectite and illite. There is a high amount of elements such as boron, copper, iodine, bromine, vanadium, magnesium, sodium, calcium, organic acids, aromatic hydrocarbons, and bicarbonate. So Naftlicheh mud volcano has a therapeutic aspect and can be one of the essential destinations for curative geo-tourism. In addition to therapeutic effects, mud volcano contains essential scientific information about evaluating gas and oil reservoirs, salt domes and the tectonic situation of the region (faults and subduction) therefore as an educational geo-site can attract a large number of domestic and foreign tourists and geo-tourists. Also, in line with geo-tourism development of the Naftlicheh volcanic mud area, some guidelines are suggested, such as: Presenting media publicity nationally and internationally about the therapeutic potential of Naftlicheh mud volcano.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of teaching grammar explicitly on Iranian tourism and hotel management students’ grammar knowledge. The 65 Iranian tourism and hotel management students who participated in this study were homogenized based on the Nelson proficiency test, so 51 tourism and hotel management students were selected as the main participants. They were divided into three experimental groups, which were called the "integrated FFI group," "pre-task FFI group," and "post-task FFI group." The learners' scores were compared using ANCOVA to analyze the data. The learners were pretested using the error correction test to assess their explicit grammar knowledge. After the treatment sessions, learners were post-tested using the error correction test to check the efficacy of the timing of form-focused instruction on the development of explicit knowledge of grammar. Based on the obtained results, it was found that there is a significant difference between the effects of integrated FFI, pre-task FFI, and post-task FFI on the explicit knowledge of the grammar of tourism and hotel management students.

Paleontological sites and fossil discoveries are types of geosites that have a high potential to be introduced as paleontological tourism sites and can be defined as geological tourism and places of geological heritage value.  One of the exciting places is Soltanieh Formation which is an opportunity for those interested in geological history to visit. The lower and upper shale members of the Soltanieh Formation in Garmab region, due to the presence of various trace fossils such as the Teriptichnus Pedum index Ichnofossil is considered one of the paleontological sites with high potential for tourism in Central Alborz also, the spectacular exposure of the Precambrian sediments on the Cenozoic sediments by the operation of the Mosha fault has added to the value of this site. This site is an open-air paleontological site that should be subject to earth protection measures.  In Iran, Geological Survey and Mineral Explorations of Iran (GSI), has a high potential to preserve Iran’s geological heritage, which can have a practical activity in this basin.