Most politicians and mangers use the word “tourism industry” in their speeches. In 2006, tourism has been able to include around 10 percent of GDP, millions jobs, and 10 percent of the whole employment. This statistics has introduced as tourism as one of the biggest industries in the world. But, according to Lickorish and Jenkins, tourism industry does not have certain and measurable output like steel industry or physical input energy[1] so some has defined tourism as “people movement” and demand pressure, not industry. Smith (1995) concludes that it’s better to consider tourism as a collection of different industries[2]. The main difference between tourism and other industries is that the tourists should travel in order to get the product, while other products are dispatched from to point of production to place of consumption[3]. Dislike the touchable products which can be put on the shelves, the product of tourism industry is fast perishable and can never be kept. In the case of any room vacancy in a hotel, or not selling a ticket of travel automobile, it can not be supplied for the next day and acquire lost revenue. [4].But still, some features can be found in tourism activities that make it closer to an industry; for example, one common phrase in tourism is “mass tourism,” meaning that a large group of people around the world have the opportunity for traveling and use the previously ready facilities line transportation, accommodation and other standardized services which can be purchased in the destination market. Definitely, supplying such a standard product entails making infrastructures and coordination between different parts of economy and society, as well as cooperation between many private, government and non-beneficial organizations. The more the coordination and cooperation between different sectors, agencies and other organizations in production of tourism product, the better the quality will be supplied and, so, the more the tourist will travel. According to Krippendorf (8:1987), wood industries process the wood, iron industries process the iron, and in tourism industry, the tourists are processed. In other words, what the tourist is provided with in a travel program is derived from the activity of tourism.

The elements of tourism are generally categorized in five categories, including transportation and loading, food and restaurant, attractions and other services. In this chapter, we are trying to study each category with consideration of Iran status.

Iran‘s land transportation fleet with 236,000 vehicles is in charge of carrying 76 percent of the cargo and 24 percent of the passenger loads in the country. The railroad network is also equipped with 500 locomotives, 15,000 cargo and 850 passenger wagons. Meanwhile, air transportation is carried out through 28 domestic airports working around the clock, 7 international airports and 6 exclusive bases belonging to the National Iranian Oil Company. Some 5.8 million passengers within and 1.4 outside the country are using the Iranian air transportation facilities. A total of 65 international flights are being made to 23 destinations throughout the world weekly. Of the total activities in the transportation sector, marine transportation has a share of 85 percent while those of the road, railway and air transportation are 13, 1.7 and 0.3 percent respectively.[5].

3.5.1. Transportation

Transportation system is placed at the heart of tourism industry. This system is the relationship between destination, inn, attractions and other touristy places. Efficiency, comfort and the rate of health and security in this system is the decisive factor for the kind of experience and the benefits which are acquired from the travel[6].There is a positive relationship between the quantitative and qualitative increase in infrastructures and the number of tourists. The development and expansion of communications, modern transportation vehicles, development of aviation and airports and exploitation of good ways of transportations (railway, city rail, and etc.) will further encourage the tourists to travel to these destinations[7].

Perhaps, one of the main facilities for tourists is the easy entrance to a country or district. The number and location of the airports, ports, and the development of roads and other transportation networks is of great importance. Tourists, sometimes, use a combination of air, sea, and land transportation to get their destinations. Also, tourists usually choose different ports of entry and exit for visiting one destination[8]. Tourists use different channels and devices, each with certain specifications and structure, to get their destinations; for example, air travels are done safer and faster, but usually cost more while traveling by bus or personal vehicles taking more time, but with less safety and cost, compared to air travel [9]. Walking, cycling, personal cars, public road transportation vehicles, rail, sea and air transportation are of different forms of transportation. Unfortunately, one of the worst sections related to tourism in Iran, is transportation. Very unsafe roads, old plains, old trains with low speed and intensive shakes,smoke making buses, old and smoke making minibuses, untrained drivers, most of them with bad and unacceptable behavior with the passengers, are of the main problems.

Heavy traffic jams in the streets of most cities, especially Tehran and metropolises, air pollution, unclear rates, the high numbers of unofficial taxis with different types of cars in different lines, high rate of time wasting, for example, a passenger who has to waste a long time for security check, customs check, inspection and etc while entering the airport. There is shortage of ticket for trains, buses, and planes during all seasons, especially during holidays and New Year when the people sometimes have to pay double or even triple for preparing ticket from black market. But the tourists don’t have the patience to do so. All this make the tourist unsatisfied and misguided. Iran suffers from sanctions in the field of aviation and during recent 3 decades, the necessary investments have not been done in rail ways too, and still there are some provinces with touristy attractions, such as Gilan, Fars, Kerman shah, and Hamadan, which are not equipped with railways.

For improvement in transportation, the navy management is crucial, that is, the company or the services owner should try to make the balance between demand and supply, in order to lower the fixed charges while the demand is low. For facilitation in transportation of tourists and expansion of domestic and international travels, the ports, air terminals, road transportation, and rail systems shall be expanded and evolved in accordance with the most recent technological achievements.  Indeed, with expansion of tourism, the services and products are encouraged because the tourism industry has a great influence on all industries, products and services. We will study the different section of transportations such as air, sea and land separately.

Rail Transportation

Although, the railway was one of the most used vehicles of transportation in Europe and United States at the end of 19th century, but, by 20th century, with launching the airways and increase in production of cars, the planes and cars have replaced the rail transportation and with consideration of increase in using then, it does not seem to resume its previous status. The rail is the cheapest form of traveling and may be for the same reason it is not beneficial in most of lines. Actually, railways can survive only by government subsidies. The first railway in Iran was established at 1887 with the length of 8.7 km, connecting Tehran to Ray City and then after, the rail, with length of 1389 km, was drawn from north to south of Iran in 1927. Now, Iran has 8100 km(2007) of railways which is not sufficient compared to  the size of the country, and except Mashad-Tehran and Tehran-Bandarabbas railways, the other are too old and the trains traveling with the speed of less than 100 km/h on them. Anyway, the authorities have spoken about launching the express high speed trains in Mashad-Tehran and Tehran-Isfahan routes that will decrease the transit time to one third.

Land Transportation

Today, a large number of travels are being done by road transportation vehicles, such as all types of small, big, personal and public automobiles. The diversity of these vehicles is so high that can be responsive for needs of various types of tourists. Personal cars, rental cars, buses, minibuses, leisure cars, and taxis are of different types of passenger boarding vehicles.

Today, automobiles are very easy vehicles with reliable, safe and low risk engines, and they are comfort to drive, too. Buses have a lot of equipments and facilities for the tourists; such as bigger and more comfortable seats with more distance and some seats with the possibility of converting to bed. Also, some buses have WC and air conditioning systems[10]. Nowadays, the majority of Iranian people prefer to travel by buses and minibuses due to their cheap tickets (mostly because of the cheap rate of fuel in Iran) and their high availabilities. But, the bus companies offer very weak and one way services. They often depart with delay, the drivers don’t have proper behavior with the people, buses and minibuses are mostly too old and most of them increase their rate during holidays and high seasons, or trying to get passengers by illegally announcing double or triple rates. Ticketing services from bus companies is still traditional and the passenger has to refer personally to the bus company for preparing ticket, while having some connections in bus companies helping a lot to get better seat.

Today, big car rental companies, like Hertz, Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Alamo, and etc, have been established, with billions of dollars each year, and are located mostly at airports or some train stations. Unfortunately, there are no such services in Iran. Regular buses and trains link Iran and Turkey, and less frequent buses run to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. Traveling overland to Pakistan is simple enough, if not that comfortable, either by public transport or in your own vehicle.[11]

Sea Transportation

Iran has 2410km (1470mi) of coastal boundaries, but there are only a few ways to enter or leave Iran by sea. In the Persian Gulf, there are ferries from Sharjah and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and from Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. It’s also possible to travel across the Caspian Sea on an irregular cargo boat between the Azerbaijan capital of Baku and Bandar-é Anzali[12]. Sea ways have been of the oldest passages used by tourists. Many of so called tourists like Christopher Columbus had done their travel via sea ways.

Traveling by ship for the purpose of leisure is of an acceptable growth in many countries, but it’s almost zero in Iran and most travels by ships are done for the purpose of fishing, transportation between the ports and islands like Qeshm and Kish, and most of Iranian people are unfamiliar with leisure ship. Today, by expansion of airlines and automobiles, this kind of traveling has been decreased. But, leisure travels by ship have attracted many people, especially from rich level. The main purpose of such ships is to provide the leisure and entertainment in the ship itself. These ships usually provide shops, swimming pools, library, movie saloon, restaurant and accommodation.

Air Transportation

Airplane is one of the most current vehicles of traveling for the tourists. The airlines had been initiated at 1910 in Germany and at 1914 in United States. From 1935, by which the first airplane moved 21 passengers, this industry has had a very fast growing, although it’s not a long time. Now, Airbus and Boeing are pioneers of aviation industry and even some countries are planning to develop space traveling around the earth and moon. Now, air traveling is the most important vehicle for the tourists. Air flights are done in two forms of scheduled and charter services. However, most of leisure and entertainment travels are done with scheduled flights [13].The number of tourists moved by flights has increased. According to the statistics air travel is of the most health, speed, and safety, however, during recent years, terrorist measures have imposed some financial and injuries harms to this industry and the passengers. So, the aviation industry has to comply with very exact regulations due to 3 reasons; first, air travels require exact operational standards to keep the health of people; second, any government trying to take the flight activities under its control due to trade and economical views[14]; third, security measures should be taken place for the safety of the passengers.

This industry has been always faced with different fluctuations: season, rate of fuel, and the terrorist attacks which can affect on it. In 1926, almost 22 years after Wright Brothers made their maiden flight, a bill was passed by then government of Iran under which the exclusive rights of the air transportation in Iran was totally granted to a German company called “Junkers”.

Thus, travel trade of the country was placed totally under a spotlight by international airlines that went on to survey the requirements of the area. In 1929, Imperial Airways, the name of which later changed to B.O.A.C. In 1946, After the Second World War, Iranian Airways was founded by private sector, operating primarily with just a few small aircraft to carry passenger, cargo, and mail. Thus Iranian Airways, the name of which, in international aviation circle, was changed to “Iran Air”, started its scheduled flight, initially flying from Tehran to Mashhad

In 1953 parallel to successful operations of Iranian Airways, determined to set up another air carrier called “Persian Air Services” to carry cargo mainly on domestic routes. Both Iranian Airways and Persian Air Services introduced their Haj Pilgrim operation in 1955 and four years later the government purchased three Viscount Aircraft and put them at their disposal to add to their fleet.[15]

One of the ways of increasing the number of passengers and cutting the costs of airlines is to increase the number of two way flights. Now, there are 23 international aviation corporate and 15 domestic in Iran.[16] According to Iran ministry of road and transportation just 3% passenger travel by plane in Iran. [17].Nowadays, there’s a network of flights between Iran and Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Visitors from the USA or Australasia usually have to fly via Asian or other Middle East hubs. Most flights land in Tehran, either at the older Mehrabad airport, or the new Imam Khomeini International Airport, 35km (22mi) south of the city.[18] Which will handle about 30 million passengers a year when completed? Tehran is the major gateway to Iran, but international flights operate to other big cities as well. There are thirty airports in active use, eight of which are suitable for international flights. The latter include the Tehran Mehrabad Airport, Mashhad, Esfahan, Shiraz, Tapirs, Bandar Abbes, Ahwaz, and Zahedan. Some of the airports were damaged during the war. Flights to Ahwaz, Orumieh, Kerman shah, and Sanandaj were resumed only in the fourth quarter of 1988, after several years[19]. Currently there is one plane seat for every 4,600 people in Iran and Iran Airline would therefore need to buy an additional 138 aircraft in order to fulfill current demand.

3.5.2. Food and restaurant

After transportation charges, the charges for accommodation and food are usually equal to the remaining charges of the travel[20]. Food is of the items which are surely required by the tourists. The passengers provide their food usually from places like restaurants, hotels, department stores, and café; in Iran Dizzy Sara and Coffee Shops can be added to the list, while fast foods restaurants are known as Sandwich shops in Iran.

People usually are attracted to the restaurants with good quality and favorite tasteful foods. Also, the rate is a decisive factor for going to a restaurant. Although, sometimes, other factors, like prestige, cause the rich people going to cheek restaurants having expensive rates. So, the restaurant space can be an effective factor, for example, restaurants with a few number of seats would not attract the people, especially families.

Chain restaurants- ready made food restaurants, family restaurants, and bars are of the various types of food services centers. The main costs of restaurants are salary payments and food stuffs that are called “prime costs,” including changing and fixed or investment costs. Also, the number of changing a table (i.e. how many times the customers use a table) is a criterion for measuring the performance of restaurant directors which is widely used[21].

There are 2089 restaurants [22]in Iran providing all kinds of Iranian foods. But, some restaurants are trying to add to their food variety and to increase the number of their customers by providing many kinds of Italian, Chinese, and Mexican foods. Although, fast foods are available everywhere in Iran. It’s a false understanding that Persian food is summarized only in Kebabs, but unfortunately most today restaurants just offer Kebabs as these are usually prepared easier for them. However there is much variety in Persian food which is now known as house food in Iran, although a growing number of restaurants are completing their menus with Persian foods.

3.5.3. Services

The main effect of tourism economy is reflected through services and facilities for the passengers. Restaurants and food services, accommodation and hospitality facilities, transportation services, camps, information services, entertainment-sport facilities and shops have the most rates of employment, revenue and taxes. The collection of these services is usually called hospitality services industry[23].

The products and services of tourism are distributed in two ways: direct distribution system and indirect distribution system.

In direct distribution system, the distributors of product contact the customer or passenger without middleman.

Tour wholesalers serve as the middle-man between the tourism services providers and travel agencies (referred to as retailers).

Tour operator which is called “land operators,” too, provides the same travel services and products like tour operator, but in a smaller scale[24].

Tour operators are trade organizations which supply a combination of transportation, accommodation and other services as a tour package to the people, through a series of communication channels[25].

Travel agents in tourism industry, play the role of retailers providing all tourists required services such as ticket, hotel reservation, and car rent. These offices are part of middleman in tourism industry, as the last chain connecting tourism services and products to the consumers. Actually, successfulness of a travel agent depends on three key factors[26].

a)    Location and physical facilities: location and easy access to agency, for those who are interested to travel, and also visibility and having good view are very important.

b)    Information, ticketing and reservation systems for providing services, in an immediate way and with most proper rates, are necessary.

c)     Personal services: concentrating on human element, the ability to understand tourists, tour operators and good and respectful behavior; also, travel agent should have the required knowledge and skill for providing proper counseling to the clients.

Special Features of Tourism Services:

1-    Tourism, compared to other services, is mostly directed by supply.

2-    Tourism product is produced by partnership between different suppliers.

3-    Tourism product is analyzed during a period with different steps, and for the same it’s difficult to be assessed.

4-    Tourism product is high risk for the consumers.

5-    Part of tourism product is based on the personal dreams and interests of consumers.

6-    Tourism industry is vulnerable against the external forces which are out of the control of providers.[27] .

Product, price and place and promotion of sales activities are 4 primary elements of the market, known as 4P. Studies and assessments have shown that products like live animals pass a life chain. This concept was introduced in the field of goods marketing first by Louit (1965). According to this pattern, at first the product is introduced and supplied, then becomes grown and reaches maturity stage, and finally, comes down. Travel agencies are like retailers who usually get commissions. This organization tries to play the role of middlemanbetween service providers and travelers. Travel agents offer vast range of services including providing the required documents, an explanation of the destination, hotels and customs, ticketing, vaccination and etc. Travel agents in Iran have Share of ticketing sales as their commission; 10% % of air ticketing sales, 5%% of train ticketing sales, 5%% of bus ticketing sales are belonged to them.

Today, ticketing sales has completely evolved from its traditional way. Ticket less and e-ticketing systems have accelerated and facilitated the procedure, so, the middleman may be removed and people may try to start purchasing ticket themselves. But, in Iran, the people still refer directly to the agents for preparing tickets, and sometimes, in the case of train and air, they refer directly to airlines and train stations. In other countries, there are places for hotel and accommodation reservation at airports, bus terminals, and train stations, but there is no such possibility in Iran. Iran’s travel retail industry is characterized by fierce competition and very low operational standards. By 2005 there were 2,500 agencies, which represents an increase from 90 ten years before.

However, this level of growth has not been positive for the industry, as many of the agencies are recording recurrent losses and 40% are on the brink of bankruptcy. [28].

Cultural Heritage Organizations and other related agencies should have some offices at the ports of entry and exit, providing respectful welcoming and greeting to the travelers, while answering their questions, too. The guides and drivers should be able to communicate in English. The required activities for tourism should be considered systematically and as a whole, and also should be studied together. This is the only way that we can acquire the goals of actual development of tourism. For example, the transportation activity, without accommodation facility, will not play any role in development, or lack of coordination between food and beverage suppliers for tourists and tourism officials will not lead to tourism development[29].

3.5.4. Accommodations

Accommodation is a word for providing resting and sleeping facilities, with a commercial focus which is used in hospitality and tourism industry[30]. Many of authors (such as Halloway, 65:1994), McIntosh and Goldner, 33:1990, and Sinckler and Stabler (71:1997) have focused on this issue that the accommodation and hospitality services is one of the most complicated and dynamic parts of tourism industry.

Accommodation, whether in the form of multi stars hotel, inn, motel, villa, or shared accommodations, should be available every where, because tourist requires staying in a place for rest and sleep, and around one third of the total costs of traveling is spent for accommodation only. Of different current categories related to hotels, categorization based on star, from one to five, and based on alphabets, from A to E, can be considered, which represent the quality from highest to the lowest[31]. In Iran, the hotels are mostly known by stars.

Investors, developers, and hotel directors require possibility measurement studies. These studies include competitive analysis, expected revenue and costs and information support, showing the revenue making of a hotel in a certain status[32]. Hotels are classified as following:

 1- Airport hotel,

2- Commercial hotel,

3- Traditional hotel,

4- Hotel apartment,

5- Personal auto hotels,

6- Hosieries hotel (such accommodations can be found in Iran especially at religious cities, like Mashad and Qom, and actually are religious places smaller than mosque for housing the pilgrimages. They can stay there from one to several nights.),

7- Private places at hotels or camps which have been purchased by some people and are rented for one year,

8- Casinos, besides gambling, some of them provide rooms for resting and sleeping (there is no official casino in Iran, after revolution 1979),

9- Historical monuments: in some countries, historical monuments, palaces and religious places are used for hosting and hospitalizing the guests. In some countries, palaces, churches and historical monuments are used as hotel or accommodation.

Schools and parks are also of temporary accommodation places. In Iran, during some seasons (for example, summer), schools are used for accommodating the travelers.

Hotel owners should provide the possibility of serving foods and beverages, besides providing accommodation, which is their main goal.

Moreover, those hotel owners are more successful who are able to recognize the taste of their guests from different countries and know at least some words from their language. Hotels are either owned by individual, by an international company, or a domestic company or organization, for example, a ministry, and are directed either as state-private or independent but under the umbrella an international company or rented by it.

During last decades, international hotels have been expanded and a high percentage of hotel rooms are in the hands of a few big companies which are operating in different sections of the market. Before revolution 1979, the most famous hotel chains, like Hiltons, Sheratons, Hytts, had at least one branch in Iran, while today these have changed their names working under the umbrella of half state organizations in Iran.

After revolution, no investment from hotel chains has been done in Iran, while investment in the field of building big hotels, without the investments of multi national companies, or without their support, will not be very successful. In international hotel section, multi national hotels have the designing and information management at their hands.

For accessing the rate of successfulness of one hotel or a chain of hotels, the criterion of percentage of used beds is used[33]. The average daily rate is the most important rate which is calculated by hotel, and to get this, the revenue from all rooms is divided by the number of rented rooms. From revenue making point of view, the occupancy ratio and also the average of daily rate is of great importance. To get the occupancy ratio, the number of offered rooms should be divided to the number of rooms ready for rent[34].With respect to revenue making; the occupancy ratio of a hotel should be at least 65%. Average daily rate (ADR) which is gotten by hotel every day can be gotten by dividing the total revenue of rooms to total number of occupied rooms (Hubbart formula).The project is to take all necessary steps in order to cover all costs and acquire 15% of investment revenue. The process is from end to start: first, the required total annual revenue for the purpose of covering all costs and acquiring 15% ofyield revenue on investment should be calculated, and then it should be divided to the number of planned rooms for sales in during next year. One dollar per 1000 rule is the key guide for specifying the rate. In this way, for every 1000 dollars investment in room, 1 dollar should be taken[35].

Today, the high rates of hotels have caused some tourist staying at tents.This is going to be current. Tent has some advantages, such as not having to pay for hotel, and its portability, but unavailability of washroom and its lack of security are of its disadvantages. Staying at relatives’ house is something related to world traveling and caravansary era, not a phenomenon of tourism and hotel era.

Today, ticket reservation is of great importance but still many hotels in Iran providing rooms to the guests without prior booking. Hotels usually recruit a vast range of jobs, including front office manager, sales manger, office manager, hospitality manager, reservation supervisor, chef, cook, guard, galley boy, driver, washing worker, and etc.

Hotels should have very close relationship with other sections of tourism industry, such as restaurants, car rentals, transportation companies, and etc.

Hotels should do marketing by having some programs like sending hotel booklets, photos, brochures, and letter to the potential customers including individuals and organizations. Yield management is a way in which the computer patterns are used for anticipating the sales in time, reservation, and type of guests[36].

Tourists going to hotels, usually include those who are traveling for business and those who are traveling for leisure. Hotelier industry is considered as an infrastructure industry. Now, there is millions of bed in hotels around the world, the share of Iran is 455 for each passenger.[37]

Unfortunately, due to lack of proper planning in some months and days of year, a large number of tourists suddenly flowing to a point or city (for example, Mashad) and causing the shortage of accommodation and facilities for the tourist and as a result, increasing the rates.

The planning should be done in a way that the events and travels can be expanded across the whole year. For example, some events or fairs can be established in the days that a tourist usually is not willing to go that point, or, for example, setting a champion having a lot of fans.
 

Classification of Hotels:

The residential units in Iran, in compliance with their facilities and services, are divided into 5 groups of one, two, three, four, and five star hotels. Based on their facilities, type of service and matching the standards, each one of these groups are divided to four classes of A, B, C, and T. Class C is the lowest while T is the highest and best hotel in its Facilities, The majority of two and three star hotels in Iran are equipped with telephone, radio & TV, central air conditioning, restaurant and coffee bar. Four and Five Star Hotels: The majority of four and five star hotels in Iran have the following facilities and accommodations:

Telephone, radio, TV, dryer, warm and cold water, central air-conditioning, children’s amusement park, elevator, meeting and conference hall, restaurant, sauna, sport club, swimming pool, ticket reservation unit, tennis course, tea and coffee maker in all rooms, lobby, laundry services, smoke free sections, doorkeeper, and night concierge. Of course It must to say Drunks are not permitted to enter and Dogs are not accepted, too.

Reservation:

There are two ways to reserve hotel room in Iran:

1. Reservation after arrived in Iran:

Soon after your arrival in Iran, It may call desired hotel. If there were any rooms available in the hotel, it may reserve it then. The Information and Reservation Offices located at the international airports of Iran will provide passengers with the necessary information by giving them some books and booklets.

 2. Reservation before arrive in Iran:

Having the phone and fax numbers of the Iranian hotels, it may contact them and receive the necessary information, and then reserve desired room from their own country.

Apartment Hotels: In Iran, apartment hotels either work independently, or they are part of hotels. Each unit of these residential complexes has suites from one to three bedrooms equipped with bathrooms, kitchen, T.V., central video & audio systems, and direct phone lines. The units are very suitable for families or group tourists that would like to save money on their hotel costs. The costs of apartment hotels depend on the available facilities and the area of the unit.

Suites; Almost all three, four, and five star hotels in Iran have suites in different sizes matching the tastes of their clients.

Guesthouses: In all urban and intercity areas, the public (governmental) and private departments have established residential and hospitality places for the welfare of their staff, passengers, domestic and foreign tourists.

Inns: There are a large number of low cost inns all over Iran to accommodate the lower budget passengers. These inns have limited facilities.

Villas and Private Houses: In almost all tourist resorts, particularly religious and pilgrimage cities as well as coastal cities of the Caspian Sea, all kinds of villas and private houses are available for rental purposes in different seasons. To rent these places, tourists may refer to travel agencies or tourists information places.

Camping & Caravan: Almost all hotels, guesthouses, and residential centers provide the necessary services to the tourists traveling in caravans or live in camping. In urban areas, there are some centers and parks where such tourists may settle in or along them and benefit from their necessary services by the cooperation of the park manager. Using the health services and water consumption and washing is free of charge in parks.

Tents: In almost all tourist resorts of Iran there are places and platforms appropriate for erecting tents by passengers and tourists. These places are mainly inside or alongside the parks. For information about these places you may refer to the municipalities, governor offices, or the law enforcement posts in the cities. These public places for erecting tents are free of charge

[1] Jefferson and Lickorish, 1: 1977cited by kazemi,2006

[2] Lumsdon, L. (1997), Tourism Marketing, Thomson Business press .p.1

[3]Kazemi, 63: 2006

[4]Chuck,y, 126: 2006

[5]MonthlyJul.2000, No.192 By: Malek-Reza Malekpour

[6]Chuck,Y, 66:2006

[7] jaffari, 222:2001, cited from Papoly Yazdi, 129:2006

[8] Daswel.T.R. (1977),”tourism: how effective management makes Different Butterworth and Heinemann, p.60

[9] Sinclair M.T., M.stable r (1997), The Economics of Tourism, Rutledge.p.78

[10]Kazemi, 74:2006

[11]Http://www.Lonelyplanet.Com

[12] http://www.lonelyplanet.com

[13]Chuck.Y, 76:1997

[14]Ibid. p. 358

[15] http://www.iranair.nl 09/06/2007

[16] Http://www.Iranair.Com, 09/05/2007

[17]Http://www.Mrt.Ir, 02/06/2007

[18]http://www.lonelyplanet.com.11/06/2007

[19]Http://www.Salamiran.Org,11/06/2007

[20] Cuhck.Y, 105:2006

[21]Lander burg, 165:1995

[22] Cultural Heritage organization of Iran, 2006

[23]Kazemi, 56:2006

[24]Chuck.Y, 136:2006

[25] Kazemi, 80:2006

[26] Daswel, 9-10:1997

[27]Kazemi, 199-200:2006

[28]http://www.euromonitor.com

[29] Alvani, 104:2006

[30] Smith, S.L.J (1995), Tourism Analysis, 2nd ed., Harlow: Longman.p.10

[31]Kazemi, 77:2006

[32]Land burg, 138:1995

[33] Chuck.y, 112:1997

[34] Ibid. p. 114

[35] Land burg, 127,1995

[36]Ibid. p.  125

[37] Cultural Heritage and tourism organization of Iran,2006

Rahim Yaghoubzadeh

 M-Phil in Hospitality management