The Conceptualization of Entrepreneurial Opportunities in the Zahedan Tourism Industry: An Explorative Study

The necessity of paying attention to the factor of context in current entrepreneurial research makes exploring of entrepreneurial opportunities in the tourism industry in the city of Zahedan a prominent research topic. Therefore, the present research, using a qualitative and exploratory plan, conceptualizes the entrepreneurial opportunities of the tourism industry in the aforementioned Iranian city. The statistical population of the study consists of experts in the fields of entrepreneurship and tourism. The sampling method is theoretical and the criterion for determining the sample size is theoretical saturation. Data collection was performed through several semi-structured qualitative interviews with twenty-three sample. The results of the coding, categorization and validation process led to the developing of 11 main categories (anthropological opportunity, geomorphological opportunity, dynamic opportunity, non-dynamic opportunity, placebo effect opportunity, technological opportunity, knowledge-based opportunity, abdominal opportunity, commercialization opportunity,  service opportunity,  Medical Opportunity) and 31 sub-categories as entrepreneurial opportunities in the tourism industry of the city of Zahedan. On the one hand, the research findings contain theoretical contribution to the knowledge-based domain of entrepreneurship from the perspective of the necessity of developing grounded concepts based on the dynamics and specific contextual conditions, and explain the action of entrepreneur in Iran, on the other hand. These are also appropriate for designing of relevant models, especially in the tourism industry. In this regard, and based on the research findings, some suggestions for future researches, and some practical and policy-making implications for the scientific discipline of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial actions, and policy-making in the countrychr('39')s field of entrepreneurship have been presented.