Cultural and Communication Potentials of Tourism in Line with Islamic Call (Da'wah)

Tourism is today one of the most lucrative industries. Our country, Iran, enjoys a variety of historical, civilizational and natural attractions and stands next to the countries with high tourism potential. In recent years, Iran has attracted remarkable number of tourists. This domain comprises a multitude of capacities but the dominance of economic concerns has inhibited the recognition of its ensuing opportunities. One opportunity is inviting to Islamic culture through tourism. In other words, one can benefit from the presence of foreign tourists in the country and impart Islam’s messages and Islamic instructions to them far from western hegemonic propaganda and let them get acquainted with a different perspective on Islam and Iran. In this research in-depth interviews have been carried out with ten activists in the field of Islamic propagation. The method of analysis of the data has been a thematic one. The findings consist of considerations, requirements and opportunities for being active in this domain under several categories, namely tourist (guest),message and content (Islamic knowledge), the propagator (host), tourist’s view about attractiveness, places where tourists stay and visit (time and place), tour guides, and related organizations and structures. Finally, some recommendations are given to other researchers in the field