Presenting a Model for the Development of Intangible Heritage Tourism in Iran with Grounded Theory Approach

Iran, with its vast geographical area, historical richness and also ethnic diversity, has many potentials for the development of intangible heritage tourism. However, so far there is no codified system to attract such tourists. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to Design a Model for the Development of Intangible Tourism in Iran using the Grounded theory approach. Therefore, a semi-structured interview consisting of five general question and with 19 experts in this field, including: University professors, tourism administrators and cultural tour guides were selected using purposive sampling method with snowball approach, was done. MAXQDA qualitative software and manual coding method were used to analyze the data. In order to evaluate the face and content validity, the findings were presented to several participants and their opinions were applied after studying them. In order to check the reliability, the method of intra-subject agreement was used and the agreement rate was 84%. According to the research findings causal factors include: economic, cultural, social, historical and diplomatic, the basics include: policy making, organizational, educations and research and planning, barriers include: modernism, bureaucracy, conflict management and government, strategies also included: marketing, integrated information system, event management, support and participation, and the results and consequences included: economic, social-cultural, perceptual, developmental and sustainable. The results of this research will help the policy makers of intangible heritage tourism development in planning and implementation.