Tehran, 4 March 2007 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- “Any plan to boost a country’s tourism must be structured on a sustainable development. In this regard, protection of the environment must be a top priority. Economic and social factors must also be incorporated in such plans,” said Dr. Hamid Zargham Brojeni, university professor and member of the scientific committee of Tehran’s Alameh Tabatabaee University and director of ECO College of Insurance.

 

Making an address in the International Conference on Tourism of Islamic Countries last evening, Dr. Zargham, who is also the founder of the first tourism faculty in Iran, talked about applicable strategies for tourism development in Islamic countries.

 

In his speech, Zargham said that the foundation of human characteristic is ‘culture’ which defines the values and behavioral patterns of human beings. “In this way, human behavior is the reflection of its culture and thoughts; and religion is the central core of culture. In this regard, tourism can be defined as the study of human behavior, demands, and needs out of his environment. Therefore, tourism can be considered a cultural activity,” said Zarghan in his speech.

 

He further noted that despite the changes in tourism in the recent decades and its shift from mass tourism to sustainable tourism which is built on the basis of society, no clear definition can be found for Islamic Tourism in the literature of classical tourism.

 

Evaluating the tourism status of Islamic countries, Zargham concluded that development of tourism must be considered as a top priority for decision makers in these countries.

 

Zargham further analyzed tourism related terms and basics from different aspects including economic, technical, scientific, humanistic, and geographic points of view in conjunction with Islamic rules to reach an applicatory, scientific definition for ‘Islamic Tourism.’ According to this definition, he then argued that fundamental applicatory strategies should be implemented for the development of tourism in Islamic countries in different divisions such as policymaking, programming, education, and even the information technology.

 

The International Conference on Tourism of Islamic countries is now in progress in its second day and will run to 5th of March. Cultural Heritage News Agency (CHN) with the support of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce has organized this 3-day event.  

 

 

Soudabeh Sadigh

foreigndesk@chn.ir