Investigating the effects of sports tourism on sustainable urban developmentUsing Geographic Information System (GIS)

Today, the role of sports in industry and economic prosperity in cities and regions is undeniable. It is urban development.

Descriptive research is a survey. The statistical population consists of university physical education professors, physical education experts, tourism experts and tour leaders of Mehdi Shahr city who answered the standard questionnaires arbitrarily. Geographic information system was used to describe tourist areas, sports venues and study areas. After collecting data, confirmatory factor analysis test was used to evaluate the construct validity of the research variables and their indicators.

The results showed that the number of tourist areas in Mahdishahr city is sufficient and appropriate and there are a number of good sports facilities in this city. On the other hand, route analysis showed that sports tourism has a positive and significant effect on urban development.

Increasing the demand for tourism with environmental and socio-cultural harms caused by economic benefits and the effects of the presence of tourists in a vulnerable environment has led to increasing attention to development sustainability issues in tourism that should be considered by officials. Therefore, extensive research is needed on the capacity of sports facilities in Mehdi Shahr to hold sports events and the amount of money required to develop and beautify them.