Virtual Tourism

This paper proposes a model for managing sustainable intercultural communication in the tourism industry of Iran and Oman, with a focus on the role of media. The study employed the grounded theory method and paradigm model, using in-depth literature review, background analysis, and interviews with relevant experts to answer research questions. The coding process involved open, central, and selective coding techniques. The model identifies the need for a combination of Bourdieu's capitals to achieve sustainable management of intercultural communication through the media, and emphasizes the importance of accepting globalization as a platform for positive changes in tourism. The model also highlights the need for institutionalizing the role of the media in sustainable intercultural communication, and developing the concept of tourism as hot and cool media. Other key factors include the development of regulations in proportion to contemporary world requirements, training of managers and citizens, and the need for stable intercultural relations. The model proposes action strategies such as extensively using media to develop regular intercultural ties, and the application of technology as a tool for sustainable development of tourism and social media. The proposed model explains the role of virtual media in improving sustainable intercultural communication management in the tourism industry, and could aid in optimal employment of virtual media in this field.

Technological development, especially over the past few years has influenced the quality of human lives considerably. According to the World Tourism Organization, the internet plays a crucial role in tourism, since it provides an opportunity for access to tourists across the world and it has the most audience compared to conventional media. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to study the short videos created on the Instagram platform for sustainable cross-cultural communication management in the cases of Iran and Oman. Among 50 Instagram pages related to Iran and Oman, only 10 pages were selected based on defined criteria and were studied using the thematic analysis method. The main discovered themes were commercial tourism (which includes sub-themes of company registration, exports, imports, skilled workers immigration); cultural tourism (which includes sub-themes of cultural similarities, cultural differences, and diplomatic relations between two countries); medical tourism (including sub-themes of Shiraz medical centers, Tehran medical centers, Ramsar health tourism, and the unknown destinations of health tourism in Iran); recreational tourism (which includes sub-themes of cruise ships, recreational Islands, desert tours, culinary tourism and restaurants, the unknown sights of Oman, and recreational tourism in Iran) and lastly ecotourism (including sub-themes of ecotourism in Iran and Oman). In general, all the discovered themes were about the sustainable cross-cultural communication between Iran and Oman.