Measuring the possibilities and capacities of ecotourism in Iran-Turkmenistan border; using SWOT method (Case study of Golestan Province)

In recent years, tourism industry and especially ecotourism has been introduced as a new method of generating income and drawing human being’s attention to the importance of nature as a source of income which is not renewable. Golestan Province has a remarkable natural variation. In this province there are many different natural phenomena such as sea, mountain, jungle, desert and moor each of which can attract tourists. In this article we tried to evaluate and measure the possibilities and potentialities of the ecotourism industry of the province using SWOT model. The findings shows that because Golestan is not much far from two crowded provinces of Tehran and Khorasan-e-Razavi, and also because it possesses temperate climate, thick jungles and hospitable people, ecotourism industry can be one of the most profitable and sustainable industries of the province. However, regarding ecotourism, lack of a suitable and inclusive programming and management along with localization are the main weakness of and hindrance to development of this industry in the province. The searching method used here was descriptive- analytic and the needed data and information were collected using field study observation and library research through interviews and questionnaires. At the end, it was aimed to find ways of improving the status of ecotourism in the province by systematically regarding and perceiving the weak and strong points along with opportunities and threats of this industry.