Evaluating the Main Tourist Attractions in Mashhad from the Domestic Tourist's Sight

The Tourism industry, with its both direct and indirect employment capacity to make money in tourist destinations, plays an important role in local economy, but to achieve this goal, tourists have to be attracted. In order to enjoy the benefits of tourism, the tourists’ preferences in selecting their tourism destinations need to be studied. Thus, as the foreign tourism in Iran is limited, most of the tourists are domestic, and they have trips to religious places such as Mashhad and Qom. The purpose of this study is to identify the domestic tourists’ preferences in selecting their destinations in Mashhad. The Entropy method was used to prioritize the tourist attractions. Results show that tourists have given their first priority to Imam Reza Holy Shrine (AS), and then to Shopping Malls, Koohsangi, Torghabe and Shandiz, Mellat Park and Koohestan Park, Golestan Water Area, Vakilabad Park, Ferdowsi Tomb, Naderi Tomb and the museums and other recreation areas around Mashhad. Obviously, the recent domestic tourists have not found the new attractions entertaining enough and this city was not successful in making new attractive tourist destinations so far.