Identification of cultural strategies of ecotourism centers in Mazandaran province with an approach based on theme analysis

The present study aims to identify the cultural strategies of the ecotourism centers of Mazandaran province with an approach based on thematic analysis. This study is practical based on the purpose. The qualitative research approach and the statistical population included 137 narratives related to cultural strategies of Mazandaran province ecotourism centers in online social media. One hundred thirteen narratives were analyzed with the help of theoretical saturation and judgmental sampling. Narratives were manually coded by searching tourism websites and using a three-step open, central, and selective method, and then based on the SWOT method; different points were combined and shown in the form of a network of topics. The results indicate the identification of 10 organizing themes and 75 basic themes regarding the cultural strategies of the eco-tourism centers of Mazandaran province as comprehensive themes. Also, the results show that the cultural strategies of Mazandaran eco-tourism centers include a learning culture strategy, e-learning culture strategy, technology application culture strategy, creative tourism culture strategy, food tourism culture strategy, green culture strategy, social-cultural strategy, artistic, cultural strategy, economic, cultural strategy, and cultural marketing strategy.