Investigating the role of flower and plant cultivation in the tourism development of Mahalat city

Academic Thesis for Master's Degree (M.A)

Field: Geography, Tourism Planning Orientation

Abstract

Today, tourism and especially nature-based tourism (ecotourism) can play a significant role in the economic development and income generation of human societies, which is different according to the natural and ecological dependencies of each country. Due to its orbital and meridional position, Iran has been placed in a special position, due to its position, Iran has different geographical positions that can be used the most in the field of ecotourism and nature tourism. The city of Mahalat, due to its mountainous location and balanced climate, has provided a suitable field for this, especially in the field of growing flowers and ornamental plants. In this research, an attempt has been made to examine the effect of growing flowers and ornamental plants on the development of tourism in Mahalat by reviewing the nature tourism literature. In this research, the descriptive analytical method is based on the information provided in the library documents and also the field method, which includes observing the current state of tourism in the city of Mahalat. The results of the research show that the city of Mahalat, due to its natural location and the existence of historical and cultural resources, especially natural resources, has a lot of potential in the field of nature tourism, which can take an effective step in the economic development and tourism of the city with appropriate and responsible policies.

Key words: ecotourism, sustainable development, flowers and ornamental plants, the city of Mahalat

Introduction

The twenty-first century is the use of valuable business opportunities in the sector services, especially tourism. Tourism is one of the biggest economic activities in the world. This industry is considered a leading industry in many countries with faster growth than other economic sectors and by creating new job opportunities. The dependence of tourism on cultural assets and the health of nature and environment has now been raised as an important principle in the growth and development of tourism (Arabi et al., 2017, p. 1). It is said that the turnover of the world tourism industry in this century will exceed the turnover of the industrial sector and will reach at least two trillion dollars in the next few years. In this process, countries that have a wide attraction of tourism, reaching one percent of the turnover value of this industry, will create an annual income of about 20 billion dollars, which is a significant figure for economies like Iran's economy and can affect all economic activities. Nevertheless, in order to achieve such an achievable income, comprehensive planning should be done and suitable investments should be made in the hardware and software fields of this industry (Pirouz et al., 1387).

Creation of employment and growth of non-oil exports are the two basic issues of Iran's economy, which can be achieved with comprehensive planning to optimally exploit the talents and potential abilities of the country's economy in various sectors. Iran is a vast country with diverse climates. Of the fourteen climates known in the world, Iran has twelve of them in different parts of the country; Therefore, it has a natural talent for the growth of all kinds of plants such as flowers and ornamental plants (Omidbeigi, 2014).

The present research under the title "Investigation of the role of flowers and plants in the development of tourism in Mahalat" using field and library data, observation and interview has been conducted in five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1: The generalities of the research including statement of the problem, research method, research objectives, research questions and so on.

The second chapter: theoretical foundations that include definitions, concepts, review of sources, research literature and research background.

The third chapter: The social, natural, economic, spatial and physical characteristics of the area in question are explained.

Chapter 5: Using the discussion and conclusions from descriptive statistics, testing hypotheses and interpreting and expressing the results of the research, proposals and implementation solutions have been presented.

This research has 52 diagrams, 52 tables, 2 maps, and 16 photos, which I hope the city planners of Mahalat will make good use of the findings of this research for the development of flowers and plants.

Chapter 1

(research overview)

1-1 statement of the problem

According to the estimate of the World Trade Organization, while the general growth of the tourism industry is expected to average 1/4 per year for the next two decades, this number will reach about one billion people per year in 2010 and 1.6 billion people in 2020. The tourism industry is the largest place of employment for people, and about two hundred million jobs with about ten percent of all jobs are directly or indirectly dependent on it (IT Robot).

Tourism is one of the largest economic activities in the world. This industry is now considered a leading industry in many countries with faster growth than other economic sectors and by creating new job opportunities. Dependence of tourism on cultural assets and health, nature and environment has also been raised as an important principle in the growth and development of tourism. (IT Robot).

One of the goals of countries is to achieve sustainable economic growth. Therefore, the importance of reducing the country's economic dependence on foreign exchange earnings from oil exports on the one hand and the position of exports and its bottlenecks in economic issues on the other hand is quite noticeable. Among the goods that can be produced in some parts of Iran and also have high foreign exchange earnings and can be included as one of the major non-oil goods in the country's export, are flowers and ornamental plants (Chizari et al., 2015, p. 2). The available findings indicate that the largest part of the growth of the tourism industry belongs to the "Ecotourism" sector, and in general, the growth of this sector will be between ten and thirty percent. Even according to some estimates, it will even exceed fifty percent of the total trips made in the world (IT Robot).  

Iran is a country with an area of ??1,648,195 square kilometers and a strategic location with 700 kilometers of coastal borders in the Mazandaran Sea, more than 1,800 kilometers of coastal borders along the Oman Sea and the Persian Gulf, climatic diversity, having 18 lakes, the existence of numerous therapeutic spas, and especially the high diversity of different species of flowers and ornamental plants are factors that place Iran among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of ecotourism attractions. Meanwhile, the role of flowers and ornamental plants (including trees, shrubs, seasonal and permanent flowers, etc.) in the production and creation of tourist attractions and subsequent urban and social development is undeniable (IT Robot). With various ecotourism resources such as suitable weather in all seasons, various buildings and ancient monuments, different flower farms in different seasons in and around the city, numerous greenhouses for the production of cut and apartment flowers, hot mineral waters and numerous species of wildlife, it provides a suitable environment in the field of agricultural tourism and ecotourism, and especially in the field of ornamental plants, it is considered as the main focus of attracting tourism and agrotourism activities (IT Robot) ); With more appropriate management, it can provide a greater share of ecotourism for the city and its residents. This goal will be achieved when the proper infrastructure of this industry, such as creating suitable places to rest and stay, keeping public spaces clean, printing comprehensive city guide maps for twists, creating a permanent exhibition of flowers and ornamental plants (at least in spring and summer) and most importantly, promoting and educating the culture of dealing with tourists among the people are among the things that will make this small beautiful city an important place to attract tourists. This issue is not only useful for improving the cultural and economic level of each, but also by creating areas for employment of people, it can also be effective in reducing unemployment in the region (IT Robot).

-2 Necessity and importance of research

Economists refer to the tourism industry as an industry that generates capital and employment and they pay special attention to this industry, therefore they believe that the correct development of tourism from an economic point of view will increase currency. Experts in economics believe that if a country can use its potential used and set the wheels of this industry in motion will witness a tremendous prosperity in the economy.