Examining the war situation in order to develop tourism (Khuzestan province)

Dissertation for Master's degree (M.A)

Trend: Geography and Tourism Planning

Abstract

This thesis examines the situation of war tourism in order to develop national tourism "case study of Khuzestan province". Due to the fact that war has negative consequences on the tourism industry, in recent decades, the issue of post-war tourism in war zones has been discussed. War tourism is a new form of tourism that was formed after World War I and II, in which war with all its effects and consequences is the basis and background for the emergence of tourism. These dimensions include war zones, battle scenes, trenches, weapons left from the war, remains of victims, monuments, museums and so on. is From this point of view, war tourism includes the conceptual domains and the semantic realm of battle fronts and areas, war museums, memorials and monuments, which are explained by mythological, historical and cultural, political and pacifist approaches. Identifying the war tourism attractions in Khuzestan province as the focal point of the Iraq war against Iran, studying the trends and general and specialized issues of tourism in the war zones of Khuzestan, analyzing the reasons for the increase in the number of tourists in this province, the history of the formation of the phenomenon of war tourism in the country of "Rahian Noor" and examining the challenges and opportunities of war tourism in order to provide practical solutions for the role and development of this type of tourism in national tourism constitute the goals and objectives of this research. The methodology of this research is based on a descriptive-analytical approach, and a case model has also been used to increase the validity and reliability of the results. From the point of view of the statistical community, visitors from Tehran, Khuzestan and Golestan provinces were randomly selected for the questionnaire, and their answers and information were done using Excel and SPSS software. With the help of SWOT technique, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and solutions to face them were evaluated. The results indicate the necessity of using a support strategy, based on this strategy, the strategy of developing and expanding war tourism can be realized by maximizing the strengths and creating opportunities and diversity in addition to the attraction of war zones.

Key words: tourism, war, war tourism, Rahian Noor, Khuzestan province.

Introduction

Travel and tourism, especially for spending leisure time, is considered one of the main human needs, so that this phenomenon with the allocation of 1/. of the world's population, it is considered the largest peaceful migration in human history. The advancement of transportation and communication technology, the development of industrial production and the increase of income, globalization and its related dimensions, the increase of leisure time, the improvement of retirement services, the improvement of the health of communities and other factors have created significant changes in industrialized countries, especially in cities, and it has been able to raise tourism (painless industry) as one of the most important economic driving forces and one of the three most important income-generating industries in the world, along with the oil and automobile industries, in the third millennium AD (Tolaei, 2016: 15).

If there was talk of going out in the past, surely in the minds of many people, an image of a simple recreation with the purpose of passing the time of one's life would be formed; But with the passage of time and business and new experiences and scientific studies, it was observed that today's societies are more and more involved in the complexities of this age and naturally and intrinsically adjust their individual and group behavior in such a way that they want a special value for their time and have the understanding that no matter how much they immerse themselves in the infinite world of technology, they need to benefit from the same quality of travel and effort to know and understand interesting natural, historical and cultural issues. Types of tourism in the world, since long years, but almost officially since 1990, a new type of tourism called "black tourism"1 was added to the common types of tourism.

One of the branches of black tourism is war tourism2, which indicates that in the not too distant future, areas related to war will undoubtedly become one of the most popular types of tourist attractions in the world. However, war tourism attractions are still a subset of the totality of tourist places related to pain and suffering. War and armed conflicts have been and are an inseparable part of human history and life. Regardless of the causes and motivations of war, there is the fact that the devastating consequences of war, killing, destruction, and the resulting damages are irreparable even for the victorious side.Regardless of the causes and motivations of war, there is the fact that the devastating consequences of war, killing, destruction, and the resulting damages are irreparable even for the victorious side, and the history of the life of that nation has dedicated Dark Tourism to this sinister phenomenon. According to the occurrence of 25 major armed wars in the 20th century, the direct or indirect casualties are estimated between 170 and 200 million people, and the war dead were about 110 million people.

Researches show that millions of tourists visit historical places related to war all over the world every year, and the supply and demand of this branch of tourism has a completely peaceful concept, although commercial and political goals are also hidden in it. It is predicted that war tourism in the 20th century will not only be an important subset of black tourism, but it will also become one of the most popular types of tourism. Chapter 1 Research Overview 1-1-Statement of the Problem One of the special types of tourism that has attracted the attention of tourists and tourism planners in recent decades is war tourism. For the first time and in the past years, this type of tourism was noticed in Western countries and appeared in the form of visiting the remains of World War I and II. War has always and everywhere brought death, destruction and destruction. The countries that get involved in the war must be responsible for the devastating consequences of conflicts and bloodshed for years and even decades. But in today's world where you can expect anything, generating income from war-torn areas and symbols of struggle and stability is not a strange thing. The statesmen of different countries, even those that were not involved in the war, have realized the importance of war tourism and each one tries to attract more tourists by investing significantly in their war zones. In recent years, people have shown great interest in watching and visiting war-torn areas, destroyed cities, destroyed tanks, and the remnants of the burning wars.

Since the fires of wars have been extinguished, the blood spilled on the ground has dried and the ambassador of death has become silent, people come to visit the lands that were once full of corpses and dead people who lost their lives because of the desires and power-seeking of politicians, maybe This is why war tourism has been called a type of dark tourism1 or problem tourism2.

War tourism itself is a new dimension of nostalgic forms. War tourism takes place in two dimensions, nostalgic and non-nostalgic. War tourism in a nostalgic form is a form of longing that is done to revisit the hometown that was once drowned in bloodshed and the terrible sound of explosions or to revive the memories of the past. In the nostalgic discussion of war tourism, visitors are war survivors or families of war fighters; The first tours to visit war zones under the title of Pilgrimage Caravans3 were launched by the British shortly after the end of the First World War (1918) and especially to visit the battle zone of Ypreder, Belgium, at that time, mainly family members and survivors of soldiers killed in this war, as well as warriors who

1. Dark Tourism

2. Trouble Tourism

3. Pilgrimage Tours

They had survived the fierce battles of the Ypres region as "pilgrims"1 and traveled to this region to visit the areas where their comrades or relatives sacrificed (Khatari, 1389).

However, in the non-nostalgic context that is common today, it includes those who visit battlefields to satisfy their curiosity, interest in battlefields, or researchers in the field of war. They go.

During the political and social life of Iranian society in recent decades, one of the most effective phenomena has been the war imposed by Iraq against Iran. During this war, thousands of people were martyred, millions of people were displaced, and many cities and settlements were destroyed. In addition to that, there are hundreds of thousands of martyrs, missing persons, prisoners, veterans and displaced persons who have left many unforgettable memories for the survivors of the war. From this point of view, the imposed war found a form of sanctity in the mentality of Iranians and continued as the dominant discourse in the lives of Iranians. The result of this discourse from the perspective of tourism knowledge was the convergence and intersection of the simultaneity of two trips. A voluntary form of tourism by the people and a planned form of government (Rahian Noor) in traveling to war zones, especially Khuzestan province, which is the focus and main focus of the Iraq war against Iran.