Upgrade economic solutions tourist attraction in the tourism area Haft Howz Mashhad

Nowadays, the tourism industry has been on the agenda as an essential economic entity to provide material resources for countries. The tourism boom in each region depends on national and regional conditions and features, including government policies, social, cultural, and political factors in each region, natural and historical attractions, quantity and quality of services provided to tourists. As a result, due to the emergence of various facilities needed by the tourists, a situation to increase employment, economic income and thus improve the whole region's situation can be provided. As one of the largest and most diverse employment and income-generating industry, the tourism industry has been paid attention by many countries as an achievable goal in the sustainable development process. In this regard, Mashhad city has various and proper historical, cultural, and natural attractions for attracting tourists. These attractions, however, have the potential to attract tourists; but the prosperity of the tourism industry also depends on the quantity and quality of the tourism industry infrastructure and the facilities and services provided.

Theoretical Framework:

The tourism industry has played an important role in encouraging investment in infrastructures, generating revenue for the government, and direct and indirect employment generation worldwide. Today, attracting foreign tourists has become an increasing competition among institutions involved in the tourism industry. Because this industry not only plays a role in promoting the national economy and foreign exchange earnings but is a clean and pollution-free industry and at the same time creates new tourism occupations for countries with tourist attractions such as Iran and can become the most important source of foreign exchange earnings; provided that proper and comprehensive planning coupled with foresight is set and implemented for it. The industry also has the potential to be replaced by the single-product economy, i.e., oil revenues.Domingues et al. (2014) discussed the competitiveness of tourists’ destinations and compared Spain and Australia. The results show that in Australia, the quality of services, commercial brands, and appropriate infrastructure is very important for attracting tourists, and the climate and local tourist structures are the most important issues in attracting tourists in Spain. Tyrväinen et al. (2014) surveyed tourist destinations in northern Lapland, Finland, regarding environmental preferences and tourist accommodation. In a survey of 1,054 domestic and foreign tourists, respondents emphasized the relationship between accommodation and nature, green infrastructures, easy access to their accommodation site, and the environment's quality in choosing their destination. Therefore, one of the few natural attractions with pleasant and eye-catching views is Haft Howz Natural Park, located in the southeast of Mashhad in the Khalaj Mountains' heart. Its name has been chosen due to the existence of natural ponds created over the years in the heart of this region's rocks.

The present paper aims to prioritize economic strategies to improve the Haft Howz region's tourist attraction, including 28 factors, which consist of 4 main criteria including infrastructure, investment, socio-economic, and marketing. Fifteen experts and Managers of the Haft Howz region were interviewed, then a questionnaire based on the AHP method was provided, and finally, the questionnaires were analyzed in Expert Choice software.

Conclusions and Suggestions:

As mentioned before, the tourism industry, especially for developing communities, is both an opportunity and a threat. Also, it is a powerful incentive for socioeconomic progress. The studies show that regarding the fundamental problems, including problems related to infrastructures, problems related to investment and management, socioeconomic and marketing problems, Iran's ecotourism program's goals will not be achieved. Since the metropolis of Mashhad, as the largest shrine in the country, annually receives 10 to 15 million pilgrims, an effective step can be taken for the economic development of Mashhad city by applying appropriate policies in the field of the tourism industry. Identifying and prioritizing economic solutions of tourist attraction in Haft Howz Region of Mashhad, which has undeniable importance in helping respective authorities and planners promote this region, have been discussed.  The AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) results to identify indexes weights indicate that as per the region’s experts and managers, indexes of infrastructure, investment, socioeconomic, and marketing are important and have priority in ranking indexes, respectively. The results of the ranking of all economic sub-criteria for upgrading the tourist attraction of Haft Howz region of Mashhad showed that the sub-criteria of securing and improving the entrances and upgrading public transportation from inside the city to the region, providing adequate and proper public health facilities and upgrading infrastructure equipment (parking, water supply, gas supply, proper lighting and the like) are placed in the first to third priorities respectively. The upgrade, completion, and reconstruction of historical monuments of the region are the last priority. Therefore, researchers are suggested to conduct a study to analyze the operational suggestions for removing regional barriers to improve the region.