Javad Barati, Maryam Rasoulzadeh, Hadi Rafiei Darani, Mohammad Mazhari,
Volume 2, Issue 6 (4-2014)
Abstract
Identifying the current obstacles in the business atmosphere of urban economy and determining methods of improving it are among the primary measures for achieving operational strategies in improving economic activities. The current study aims at strategic planning to improve business atmosphere in the holy city of Mashhad with regard to its religious tourism potentiality. Therefore, the strong and weak points as well as the opportunities and threats of the business atmosphere of the city were identified based upon focusing on religious tourism through SWOT and quantitative matrix of strategic planning. Following filling-out a questionnaire by 23 experts from related organizations, operational measures and proper executive policies were decided upon. The results indicated that the strategic situation of the business atmosphere of urban economy of the holy city of Mashhad, emphasizing the condition for attracting religious tourists, is in a defensive status therefore, the strategy for supporting the active members in the field of religious tourism is among defensive strategies for this domain. Besides, deregulation, reducing official bureaucracy, and unifying organizational management are among the most important factors in devising strategies for improving business atmosphere in the holy city of Mashhad.
Saeed Farahanifard, Mojtaba Ghafari, Mohammad Javad Masoominia, Hossein Bahrami,
Volume 13, Issue 52 (10-2025)
Abstract
Religious tourism, along with the capacity to generate income, can lead to the strengthening of the transnational role of countries. Due to its cultural, religious and religious attractions, the city of Qom has many capabilities in the field of religious tourism and pilgrimage. Pilgrimage tourism is one of the types of religious tourism with a cultural and social approach. Therefore, considering the difference between religious tourism and pilgrimage and the emphasis of the narrations on pilgrimage, this study focuses on the category of pilgrimage tourism. For data analysis and prioritization of factors, fuzzy Delphi and Marcus methods were used, respectively. The theoretical community of the research was academic elites and tourism activists, and the sampling method was judgmental. The required data has been extracted using interviews and expert questionnaires. In the first step, 32 factors were extracted using background review and interviews with experts, and by distributing expert questionnaires and the fuzzy Delphi method, 10 factors with a defuzziness number higher than 0.7 were screened. Finally, the final prioritization was carried out based on the Marcus method. The results of the study show that producing products in line with the Iranian-Islamic model, offering a variety of products with an Islamic art approach, providing welfare equipment from religious places, expanding Islamic and traditional medicine services and products, providing temporary and inexpensive accommodation, providing welfare services and facilities from religious places, locating accommodation centers around prominent pilgrimage centers, making the authorities aware of the needs and demands of pilgrims, designing and holding practical training courses in the Islamic field, and having Islamic educational and research centers are, respectively, the highest priorities in developing pilgrimage tourism in the city of Qom.
