In recent years, the increasing number of wealthy Muslims has propelled halal industry (halal: permissible according to Islamic law) to provide a way of life including halal travel and halal hospitality services. Although Iran is an Islamic country and has all of conditions for halal tourism but its share is only 160 million dollars, equivalent to 3% of the world's halal tourism industry and in the ranking of top destinations of tourism halal in 2018 is in the 17th position. The rapid growth of the Halal Tourism Market and the competition of destinations to obtain a part of this market due to its potential economic, cultural, religious and political potential show the need to pay attention to Halal tourism and the competitive presence in this market. Since the starting point for genesis of strategies for improving the competitive position of a destination can be considered similar to the factors affecting competitiveness, this study aims to prioritize Iran's competitiveness factors in halal tourism based on a model from competition model of Dwyer and Kim. Data collection tool is a researcher-made questionnaire which completed to Internet way by 192 people from the supply side in the tourism industry, including experts and activists in the field of tourism in Tehran. These people selected by using judgment sampling. To analyze the data, T-test and Friedman used. The results of the analysis confirmed the seven hypotheses proposed of the study as Iran's competitiveness factors in halal tourism. Also, the priority of these factors respectively is "Situational factors of Iran in halal tourism", "Destination management in halal tourism", "Iranian-Islamic cultural/historical heritage", "demand condition for Iran's halal tourism", "supporting factors in halal tourism", "Muslim arbitrary natural heritage" and "created resources based on halal tourism". Halal tourism as a type of tourism for Muslim tourists in which people travel for pleasure and having fun through adherence to religious law, significantly increased in the past decade. Due to the potential economic, cultural, religious and political advantages of halal tourism and the availability of the necessary capacities for this type of tourism, it is expected that Iran will be pioneer in terms of attracting halal tourists rather than other countries. But according to the report of the Crescentrating Institute in 2018, Iran has ranked 15th among the 48 countries surveyed of the member of Organization of the Islamic Conference. It seems that the halal feature of tourism activities in Iran has not created any competitive factor. New destinations, especially in Asia, have realized the need to focus on this market and are competing to become Muslim friendly destinations. It's expected that halal tourism will attract non-Muslim tourists who are looking different cultural experiences as well as. Consequently, considering the appropriate conditions for halal tourism development in Iran and the goal of attracting 20 million tourists to Iran by 2025, the development of halal tourism in Iran can be a practical way for inviting the world people to visit the merciful Iran, as well as the solution of cultural growth, social development, compensation solutions of Shortage of the oil economy and the means of realizing a resilient economy. Consequently, due to the lack of research on Iran's competitive status in halal tourism, present study attempts to identify and prioritize Iran's competitiveness factors in halal tourism in order to increase Iran's competitive power as a halal tourism destination and Iran can benefit from potential capacities of halal tourism. The present study is an applied, quantitative and descriptive research with a survey strategy. Data analysis was performed through using SPSS statistical software in two sections, descriptive and inferential statistics. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, t-test and Friedman test were used for inferential statistics.
  The data analysis results confirmed the seven proposed hypothesis of the research. Friedman's analysis of variance test showed that there is priority among the accepted factors. Based on the results, In order of priority, Iran's competitiveness factors in halal tourism are "Situational factors of Iran in halal tourism", "Destination management in halal tourism", "Iranian-Islamic cultural /historical heritage", "demand condition for Iran's halal tourism", "supporting factors in halal tourism", "Muslim arbitrary natural heritage" and "created resources based on halal tourism". The purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize Iran's competitiveness factors in halal tourism, derived from Dwyer and Kim Destination Competitiveness Model. The results showed that situational factors and destination management in halal tourism are more important than other factors and taking planned decisions will also provide context for the realization of other factors. In this regard, it is necessary to support the private sector and remove the rules and red tape in the light to create appropriate security and infrastructure by the government. Iranian cultural-historical resources ranked in high priority, third rank. In this regard, branding of halal food and the holding of halal food tours and festivals, as well as the emphasis on the features of Islamic and Iranian architecture and the existence of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS), have the potential to be used to increase the competitiveness of Iran in halal tourism. Putting the demand condition for halal tourism in the fourth priority indicates the necessity of matching the halal properties, the characteristics of the destination and the quality of services to increase the domestic demand for halal tourism and the satisfaction of foreign tourists. Supporting resources in halal tourism ranked fifth priority. Thus, it's imperative that officials consider improving the political and economic relations of Iran with countries of origin halal tourism, including improving the conditions for granting visas. Also, due to unfriendly encounters with Muslim tourists in recent years, it is imperative that hospitality be introduced as an intangible element of tourism product and a prominent feature of the Iranian people to the world and shape a proper image of Islamic Iran in the minds of people around the world. Putting the natural heritage and created resources in the last priority showed ignoring the more important factors will not allow the full use of the competitive ability of these two factors.

Traces of the ‘halal issue’ can be found in most of today’s industry including food, cosmetics, transportation, and other related productions. Muslim tourists are paying more attention to tourism markets than ever before. Since Iran is an Islamic country and its laws are in accordance with the standards of Islam, halal tourism can be flourished in this country according to the background of Islamic culture. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the importance of paying attention to the cultural and religious policies of Iran to develop halal tourism. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the contribution of the cultural and religious policies of Iran to the improvement and development of halal tourism. To this purpose, the relationship between religious and cultural indicators affecting the development of this type of tourism was examined using the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique. This method is a system analysis that examines the interactions between its elements and is based on the opinion of experts. The group of experts in the field of religious tourism and cultural heritage, tourism stakeholders, and managers of accommodation centers have received foreign Muslim tourists. The findings showed that Islamic branding indicators focusing on Iranian culture, marketing, and advertising can introduce the Islamic religious culture of Iran to Muslim tourists and create a good image of the cultural situation in Iran. As a result, Muslim tourists can be attracted to Iran by the most basic religious and cultural indicators affecting tourism development. This strategy should be incorporated into the executive policies of the country as a priority.

Medical tourism has considerably developed in recent years. Many patients travel to other countries to receive healthcare services. In this regard, medical tourists’ positive experiences of the services they receive make them loyal to the destination, being influenced by the prestige and reputation of the target destination and the patient’s perceived value of the healthcare centers’ brands. Therefore, as Tehran possesses the most advanced medical centers, including hospitals, clinics, and specialty clinics, this applied descriptive-correlational study sought to investigate the influence of medical tourists’ experience on destination loyalty, taking the intervening role of prestige and perceived value of the target medical centers’ brands into account. To this end, the required data were collected using a researcher-developed questionnaire. The population consisted of medical tourists who visited medical centers in District 1 of Tehran, out of whom 384 individuals were selected through convenience sampling. Finally, the collected data were analyzed via SPSS (Version 25) and Smart pls3 software using the Structural Equation Modeling. The study’s findings indicated that medical tourists’ experience exerted a positive significant influence on the destination’s prestige, perceived value, and loyalty. Moreover, it was found that the loyalty to the destination increased by an increase in medical tourists’ experience. Therefore, the prestige and perceived value of the destination’s medical centers must be greatly attended to.

The problem of Halal has influenced in most of today's industries such as food, cosmetics, transportation and so on. The tourism industry can attract the world's large Muslim market by observing some of the sharia laws of Islam. After the events of September 11 and issues caused by it, most Muslims around the world tended to travel to other Islamic countries, since Iran is an Islamic country and its laws are in accordance with the religious standards of Islam, it is possible to promote halal tourism in this country more easily and Iran can become a hub of Islamic and halal tourism in the world, and since Iran is a country with Islamic approaches, it can provide these conditions for Muslim tourists better than any other country. The purpose of this study is to explain the components of halal tourism.

Due to the technological, cultural, political, social and economic infrastructures created in the 21st century, the phenomenon of tourism will be an inevitable fact in human behavior and action to satisfy the spirit of curiosity. Travel to other places has become a necessity of life in the 21st century. In the meantime, tourism is sometimes done for Muslims with less facilities and there are problems in this regard for them. As a result, there are restrictions on Muslim tourists in terms of food or entertainment. Most Muslim tourists usually check their destination and facilities before booking a hotel or plane ticket. Especially Muslims who need to observe certain limits and customs. "Halal tourism" is an issue that is raised in this regard. The present study is conducted with a mixed research approach and the statistical population is the experts active in the field of tourism. The number of statistical samples in the qualitative stage is determined to conduct interviews with 12 people, and in the quantitative stage, 107 activists and those involved in the field of tourism are selected. In the qualitative dimension, the theme analysis approach is used, and in the quantitative dimension, the Delphi method and confirmatory factor analysis are used to validate the model. Finally, after determining the categories, the general classes of halal tourism development model are identified in the form of 3 sections: halal tourism development requirements, tourism perception and sustainable development

Nowadays, development of tourism types is one of the most important research topics in the area of human geography. Because tourism, on the one hand, has different types and on the other hand, it can have profound and positive effects on the mundane and spiritual dimensions of the human life and geography areas. Development of tourism types in the each geography area may encounter with different driver and barriers. Along with the management structures and physical and mundane prerequisites, dominant tourism pattern on area ' tourism system is one of the factors that has positive and negative effects on its tourism development. Halal tourism is the behavioral-functional pattern that the goal of present research is assessment of its effects on Iran' tourism types. This article is fundamental and descriptive-analytical research. Method of the gathering data is survey by the expert’s questionnaire. The sample consists of 25 tourism professors of Tehran universities. The method of data analysis is Weighted Sum Model (WSM) and Shannon Entropy is used for weighting of indicators. Research findings indicate that the tourism Halal pattern can have different effects on the development, efficiency and affectivity of each type of the country' tourism and this pattern can be a driver factor for some forms of tourism and as a limitation factor for some. The results show the Halal pattern can lead to development of some types of tourism such as religious, cultural, historical, health tourism and ecotourism, while it considers as a limiting factor for development of leisure.

Today, in the world, the income from tourism ranks third after the income from the export of fuel and chemicals, which reached a share of 4.7% of the world's total exports in 2019, and for forty poor countries in the world, tourism After oil, it is the second most important source of foreign exchange. According to the statistical report of GMTI 2021, the countries of Malaysia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia have occupied the first to third ranks of halal tourism. Iran's economy has a lot of potentials to attract financial benefits from this industry. The current research aims to determine the effective variables that such tourism demands, and provide a model in the form of an endogenous growth by examining the effect of halal tourism education and promotion in Iran and calculating the factors affecting it. To achieve this goal, the process of this model was simulated with the help of mathematical models, and the effects of changes in the factors affecting tourism were investigated. Based on research findings, variables such as foreigners' income, income elasticity of demand, infrastructure factors such as education and promotion of tourism and transportation, roads, culture, tourism, and religious capitals have a positive effect on the number of tourists. Also, some factors have a negative effect on the number of tourists, including the price elasticity of tourism demand, the tax rate on service goods, and the price level.

This research with the topic of "providing a model of innovative marketing opportunities for entrepreneurs in the field of halal tourism" in terms of the practical purpose, the nature of the data is mixed and exploratory; In terms of the data collection method, it is a descriptive research. The statistical community is divided into two categories, the first category includes experts and specialists who are fully familiar with the complete concepts of the halal tourism industry and innovative marketing opportunities for entrepreneurs in this field.The second category includes the operators and beneficiaries of this industry, i.e. companies providing tourism services, tourists, which also includes sub-groups such as (managers, employees, experts). that this population is responsible for filling the questionnaires in the quantitative partIn the qualitative part, the sample size is 11 experts and specialists related to the subject, and a closed structured interview will be conducted with these people. In the quantitative section, questionnaires were distributed among 57 employees of tourism companies in Arvand Free ZoneThe data collection tool in this research was conducted by the researcher using interviews and questionnaires. In this way, first, all the criteria and sub-criteria have been extracted using the opinions of experts. Then the validation of these factors was discussed through the Delphi method. In the quantitative stage, structural equation modeling and factor analysis method were studied with Spss and LISREL software. The obtained results led to the identification of five factors of innovative marketing opportunities for entrepreneurs (created value for tourists, innovation in products and services, social networks for advertising, modern technologies for distribution networks and sustainable products and services). The mentioned model and the relationships presented in it were evaluated using structural equation model test and the effect of these components was confirmed.