Explaining the Pattern of E-Sports Tourism in Kermanshah Province based on Grounded Theory

Nowadays, electronic tourism is considered one of the basic components in the development of this industry due to synchronizing tourism with information technology, therefore, the present research explains the pattern of electronic sports tourism in Kermanshah province based on Grounded theory.

The research method was qualitative (grounded theory). The data collection tool was through in-depth and semi-structured interviews. After conducting 11 interviews with experts in the field of e-tourism and sports using the purposive sampling technique, the codes reached theoretical saturation. Data were analyzed simultaneously using the Systematic approach.

In total, 88 open codes were obtained from the interviews that were conducted with the samples under investigation, in the form of 19 axial codes and 5 selective codes of causal factors (being attractive to tourists, being more comfortable, psychological outcomes and tourism attractions of the province), contextual (emphasizing friends and family, other people's experiences and website capabilities), interventionist (security weaknesses, management and government weaknesses, and individual characteristics), strategies (advertising strategies, infrastructure development) , providing discounts, management strategies and development of e-sports tourism) and consequences (Increasing tourist communication, economic development, cost reduction and travel convenience) were categorized.

Adequate advertising, development of infrastructures, offering discounts, and improving management and development electronic sports tourism lead to increasing tourist communication, economic development, reducing costs and making travel more accessible.