پديد آورندگان :
حاجي‌اسماعيلي، ليلا نويسنده دانشجوي كارشناسي ارشد زبان انگليسي دانشگاه آزاد اسلامي واحد علوم و تحقيقات اصفهان , , كيانپور، مسعود نويسنده استاديار گروه علوم اجتماعي دانشگاه اصفهان ,
كليدواژه :
امنيت , دفاتر خدمات جهانگردي , گردشگري , استان اصفهان
چكيده لاتين :
Introduction
One of the most important factors affecting tourism and its development, is security and those interrelated factors which influence it. In one definition, tourism security is defined as a perceived and/ or actual invulnerability of tourists who visit a given destination. It is also related with potential or actual activities that risk the lives of tourists. Such activities may take a wide range from crime to social or political unrest, and even terrorist activity or warfare. Security in tourism has been regarded as one of the major concerns of both tourists and industry. Considering the fact that Iran, and especially Isfahan, is potentially capable of becoming a tourist destination for its historical and cultural heritage, it is important to pay attention to the issue of tourism security as a very important factor in developing tourism industry in general and tourism income in particular. Thus the present study aims at understanding the challenges that tourism industry face in Isfahan regarding various aspects of security. The study is based on qualitative interviews with travel agency mangers in Isfahan as they are an important and influential group of actors in this industry, whose perspectives and experiences can reveal the challenges and opportunities of tourism in Isfahan.
Material and Methods
This is a qualitative study based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with managers and/or owners of private travel agencies in the city of Isfahan, whose job is to plan, provide, and perform tourism services for both domestic and international customers. According to official statistics of the Office of Cultural Heritage, Handcraft Industries and Tourism, more than 137 travel agencies have been active in the city of Isfahan in the year 1390. Using a purposeful sampling method, we divided the city into different districts and went to the most important travel agencies in each district, asking for voluntary participation of managers in the study by sitting and answering to our question about security problems and challenges in Isfahanʹs tourism industry. Overall, we were able to include 20 cases in our sample as most of these managers were very busy and did not have enough time to devote to an academic interview. In order to analyze the data, we used thematic analysis as a common and applicable qualitative approach. During data analysis, we used a three-stage method of coding by which the data was first coded in an open fashion, then in a selective fashion and finally in a concentrated fashion.
Discussion of Results and Conclusions
Considering the fact that tourism industry requires security to develop and flourish, it is of crucial importance to pay specific attention to this issue and pave the way towards a secure environment in different aspects of tourism. Creating a desirable environment form the viewpoint of travel agency managers so that tourists feel secure to travel is essential. However, this requires support and coordination between tourism industry, the police and the state. Overall, the findings of this research can be categorized into at least five types of security, including (1) economic and financial, (2) mental and police-based, (3) legal and administrative, (4) road and transportation, and (5) food and hygiene. Among the above items, mental security is especially important to attract international tourists. Unfortunately, although security standards are relatively high in Iran, the political situation that influences relations with the West and propaganda against the government has made it difficult to present the country as a popular tourism destination. This is explained with the concept of "the tourist gaze", according to which western citizens chose travel destinations not by personal and cognitive investigation, but rather by media images and journalistsʹ reports, which are usually filled with distorted narratives about specific places. Another important item is legal and administrative security of the very travel agencies themselves, which is basically jeopardized by instability in laws and management policies. The most important challenges in this regard are: lack of instability and consistency in the Organization of Cultural Inheritance, Handcraft Industries and Tourism, as the most important governmental institution related to tourism industry, misunderstanding in perceptions of other state organizations regarding the work and activities of tourism, and supervision or interferences of different governmental bodies in this industry.
Economic and financial security is also mentioned as an important issue in tourism security. One of the most common and frequent problems for international tourists is inability to use credit cards in Iran, another issue is a relatively high rate of fraud and cheating in financial transactions of tourists and local sellers when it comes to buy goods and/or services. On a macro level, respondents believed that lack of financial support from relevant state organizations makes this vulnerable private sector even more vulnerable and reduce the ability of travel agencies to provide high-quality service.
