Selection of handicraft site as a step for achieving sustainable tourism development (Case study: Shiraz)

The sustainable tourism strategy is a comprehensive approach that demands tourism industry long time growth without destructive effects on ecosystems. Sustainable urban tourism follows two main principles: retrieval of cultural sources and economic growth. It is necessary to mention that planning isn’t ignorable for achieving it. Every year, Shiraz city -because of its cultural richness and natural- historical attraction – attracts lots of tourists. Using region potentials is one of the methods for absorbing tourists and economic growth. Handicraft because of its potentiality can fulfill the sustainable urban tourism goals. Selecting the optimum site for deployment of crafts in Shiraz city is the first and the most important aim of this research. Firstly for choosing suitable criteria's establishment, the experience of other countries as pioneer in establishing crafts’ site were used. Then, a meeting was made with the owners, craftsmen, crafts professionals, tourists and the local community. Based on participant's ideas, 8 criteria (access, sutible slope, ownership, land use, installation, parcel size and proximity to historical and natural axes) were determined for site selection. At last, 4 sites were selected among the proposed sites based on the mentioned criteria via Topsis method. Based on results, the four selected sites have the relative closeness to the ideal status for town construction and tourist attraction. The first Site (located in Golestan boulevard, the 3rd region of Shiraz municipality) with SLi= 0.944 compared with the others has better tourism situation. The main reasons of this site selection are Locating in historical- cultural axe, Shiraz's Erfan axe, and also closeness to the main entrance of shiraz- Quran.