Explaining Strategic Planning of Polotourism Development in Iran

Polo tourism is of particular importance in many countries. In this respect, many successful attempts have been made by providing various exciting programs and rituals and presenting tourism packages to attract tourists interested in this sport. This study aimed to explain the strategic planning of polotourism development in Iran. This was an applied study conducted using the quantitative-descriptive design. The target population was a panel of polo, tourism, culture and physical educationexperts. A sample of 256 experts was selected using the purposive sampling method. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire, the face and content validity of which was evaluated by a number of sports and tourism management professors, and for the overall reliability, the Cronbach's alpha value was0.86. This study showed that the managerial factor regarding the polo tourismpolicy-making and planning, the Polo Federation and its boards' level of awareness and attention to polo tourism were ranked third.The "Federation's emphasis on polo tourism development" ranked first among the managerial factors with value 6.13, while the "provincial boards' awareness of polotourism" ranked last with value 3.21. Policy making, planning, and especially provincial boards' awareness of polo tourism ranked last in terms of average value. Therefore, in order to achieve tourism objectives, we should prioritize policy-making, planning, and raising the executive agents' level of awareness.