Exploring the Greatest Tourism Problems in Isfahan

Urban tourism is one of the most prevalent and lucrative types of tourism. Enjoying great cultural and historical potentials, Isfahan could be regarded as one of main destinations for urban tourism in Iran. However, while its development in terms of tourism has been defined in some legally binding documents such as "Isfahan’s 1404 Development Strategic Document" and "Isfahan Province Development Document", it has failed to be developed ideally in that regard. This study, therefore, set out to identify the most significant problems hindering the development of tourism in Isfahan. The data of this qualitative research were collected via 26 semi-structured interviews whose size was determined based on saturation effect. The participants of the study were selected through purposive sampling from among the elites, officials, and the practitioners of the tourism industry. Analyzing the data through thematic analysis, one core problem and three axial problems were identified for the Isfahan’s tourism industry. The core problem was, according to the findings, that tourism did not have priority at the macro level, and the axial problems included “inefficient management and lack of well-defined plans”, “abstinence from investment”, and “inadequate human resources”. It was also found that conflicting ideas were the dominant problem in defining the main issues in tourism.