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A case study of Mazandaran Province, Iran
Z. Sharifinia
Department of Geography and Tourism Planning, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to rank the security challenges and strategies of tourism
in Mazandaran, Iran using a Delphi method. Mazandaran has a lot of tourist attractions. Every year
it has millions of tourists. Unfortunately, it faces some security challenges. These challenges may cause
unsustainability for the tourism activities if not managed appropriately. Thus, this study is proposed to
answer the following questions: What are the challenges of tourism development in terms of security in
Mazandaran? What strategies that can be used to overcome these challenges? The population includes
the members of the permanent center of province trip facilities and tourism experts. Twenty seven people
were recruited as the sample using the Snowball sampling technique. The results indicated that the most
important security challenge was the 'high costs of residence which left the tourists stranded outside and
so decreased their security level'. The most efficient strategies to improve security were 'promoting coop-
eration between the police and the travel agencies', 'increasing the safety of the transportation system',
and 'familiarizing the tour guides with security challenges'.
Keywords
:
Delphi method, Mazandaran, security, tourism, tourism development
1 INTRODUCTION
among countries were challenges about tourism
in the past and these challenges will remain in
the future (Pishgahifard & Jahanian 2011). Thus
contributory factors to the security disturbance
in tourism sector must be identified and classified
(Seydaii & Hedayatimoghadam, 2010). Karamide-
hkordi et al. (2013) stated that identifying the secu-
rity challenges is one of the primary factors which
tourism planners must consider. Many researchers
have warned about the possibility of serious impact
of natural phenomena or human factor on tourism
industry. Natural phenomena such as earthquake
and flood, and also human risks like political riot,
revolt, terrorism, insurrection, crime and war have
impacted visitors' behavior, especially when they
are shown in the mass media (Asli et al. 2009).
George (2003) evaluated whether tourists, who
visited Cape Town, felt safe while staying in the
city. The findings revealed challenges of using the
city's public transport after darkness, nationality
of tourists and their previous experience of crime
affected the respondent's perceptions of security.
Baker and Stockton (2014) have examined the
effects of crime on health of tourists in two cities of
the USA (Honolulu and Las Vegas) that engaged
in mass tourism. In Honolulu, an inverse relation-
ship between the number of visitors and violent
crimes was found while in Las Vegas, a significant
correlation between the number of visitors and
'Security' means avoiding any stress and anxi-
ety which leads to disturbing the peace of mind.
Security establishment includes providing desir-
able situation and normal conditions in the soci-
ety by police forces in the framework of the law
and by the objective of protection of ethnic-social
values and protecting individual and social benefits
(Hezarjaribi 2011).
From the view point of tourism, security
includes all affairs that are conducted to prevent-
ing disturbance in tourism activities. It also means
as establishing conditions that help tourists to visit
attractions with the sense of safety (Khoshfar et al.
2013). Sustainable growth of tourism depends on
good performance of tourism cycle and several
elements that interact together to form tourism
system. Each element is important and is associ-
ated with other components. Security is one of the
most important elements. Security and tourism are
related to each other in both internal and external
relations (Lotfifar & Yaghfuri 2013).
Any country has its own difficulties and chal-
lenges based on the cultural, social, geographi-
cal, economic and political feature (Rabani et al.
2012).
War, terrorism, insecurity, border guarding,
severe regulations about visa, ideological conflicts
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