Silk Road is a new opportunity for the prosperity of Iran's tourism

The Silk Road was a major trade route between China and Europe between the third century B. C. and the fifteenth century A. D. In recent years, WTO and UNESCO attention to the heritage of the Silk Road has grown, and attempts are being made to find strategies to preserve and exploit heritage sites located on this historical route. Meanwhile, promoting tourism can be a strategy for flourishing and entrepreneurship on the Silk Road.

The qualitative and quantitative method was used in this study and the Silk Road of Iran was selected as a case study. In the first step, an interview form was designed to identify entrepreneurial opportunities of Silk Road tourism of Iran. Data was gathered through snowball sampling method and analysed by using coding (open and axial coding) method. Finally, in order to determine priority of entrepreneurial opportunities of Silk Road tourism of Iran a Friedman test was applied.

The results demonstrated that entrepreneurial opportunities of Silk Road tourism of Iran can be classified into nine categories of opportunity – health & wellness, leisure and tourism, accommodation, public, transportation, business, cultural, administrative and financial. Also, the results of Friedman test revealed that among the accommodation opportunities restoration and changing caravanserai into hotels had the highest priority. In addition, experiencing historical travel style on the Silk Road of Iran was identified as the most important leisure and tourism opportunities. Furthermore, establishment of the restaurant on the Silk Road and serving the historical meals that flourished at the time of the flourishing Silk Road was mentioned by experts as an important public opportunities. It is noteworthy that, development of railway projects had the highest priority among transportation opportunities. And, commercial use of buildings on the Silk Road, such as holding galleries, introducing works of art, and offering commercially cultural products had the first priority among business opportunities. Besides, organizing cultural and historical tours was introduced as an important cultural opportunities. Moreover, among the identified health & wellness opportunities, arranging health and wellness tours on the Silk Road was the most significant opportunities. Creating a Silk Road secretariat and executive human resources was most attractive administrative opportunities. In addition, private investment for Silk Road tourism projects has the highest priority among financial opportunities.

The results of qualitative and quantitative method allow authors to conclude that promotion of tourism on the Silk Road of Iran is not just a strategy for preserving the heritage and protecting the Silk Road, but it can provide opportunities for entrepreneurship and the development of local economy. Regarding this, the implementation of the National Tourism Plan of the Silk Road is recommended with emphasis on the cities located on the historical rout of the Silk Road, approved by UNESCO. In addition, the study of the tendency of domestic and foreign tourists to travel to the Silk Road is one of the research that researchers are advised to do in the future.