The Effect of Natural Sport Attraction on Developing Sport Tourism in Hormozgan Province

The aim of this study was to explore the effect of natural sport attractions on developing sport tourism in Hormozgan province from sport and tourism experts’ viewpoint. This research followed a descriptive method, which was done in a field study. Data were collected from three groups (n=167): 1. Tourism experts of cultural inheritance and tourism organization (n=19), 2. Experts of active travel agencies in the field of tourism (n=60), and 3.  Sport experts of eight sport boards (mountaineeringm, boating, swimming, horse riding, cycling, hunting, track and field, general sports (n=88). We used stratified sampling to choose the experts. Data was collected through a researcher-made questionnaire, validity of which was confirmed by experts and its reliability was 0.93 done by Cronbach Alpha. The results showed that “attractions related to water treatment (load=0.84), "attractions related to hinking and ecotourism (load=0.76), “attractions related to shore, water and summer sports (load=0.73)” are the most important in sport tourism development in Hormozgan province. In addition, from the exprets’ viewpoint participated in this study, local sports like camel riding are among special and local abilities of this province.