Identifying and explaining the driving factors affecting tourism development with future studies approach (Case study: Anzali Trade-Industrial Free Zone)

the current research with a descriptive-analytical method and an exploratory future research approach seeks to identify the most important drivers that influence the future development of the Anzali Free Zone tourism industry.At first using interviews with 20 experts which selected purposeful and 24 driving factors explored. Then, the effectiveness and dependency of each of them were determined using structural analysis method, the cross-impact matrix and MICMAC software. the results of the study show that from the identified important variables, moving from the product economy toward experience economy, creative destruction, Creating a complementary attraction with respect to the competitive advantages of the region, clarifying the process for leading tourism investments, Attention to brand management of Anzali in trade part, using practical training for local people and businesses, Use of private sector capacities in different forms and investment in health tourism have the most important role in the future development of the region. Also, the most dependent variables are investment in health tourism, moving from the product economy toward experience economy, attention to brand management of Anzali in trade part, using practical training for local people and businesses and management of handicraft. The present study showed that the identification of the key elements that affect the sustainable development of tourism in Anzali Free Zone will play a vital role in the economic sustainability of the region in the long term and will ultimately increase the competitiveness of the destination against other destinations in the future,