A Study of Strategic Role of Chabahar Free Zone on Tourism Industry Development Using SWOT Model in Iran

The current research was conducted aiming to study the strategic role of Chabahar Free Zone on Tourism Industry Development. The statistical group of this study is the experts of tourism including the tourism officials and experts of Chabahar Free Zone. The statistical sample in the current study was a group of 20 people that was determined by use Judgmental sampling method. This research is of applied type and the study method is a compound one (quantitative, descriptive and analytical). For this purpose, the internal environment (Strengths and Weaknesses) and the external environment (opportunities and threats) of the tourism industry of Chabahar Free Zone were studied. Then in order to complete the information, a questionnaire was used and its reliability co-efficient was calculated to be 0.927. The comments of the tourism-related experts and officials in Chabahar Free Zone were sought. Considering the collected information, SWOT model was used to analyze the findings. Evaluation of internal and external factors clarified the relative value and priority of each of the factors. The results showed that all the factors had a relative value of more than 0.8. Therefore it was an inevitable necessity to prepare the strategies in order to remove the Weaknesses and threats and use the Strengths and opportunities. Hence this study tried to describe the strategic role of Chabahar Free Zone on tourism industry development with identifying the effective factors on tourism development in Chabahar Free Zone and preparation of the strategies.