Dissertation for receiving Master degree (M.A)
Field: Geography Treatment: Tourism Planning
Flower and plant tourism is considered one of the special branches of tourism and the number of this type of tourists is increasing day by day in the modern world. Flower and plant tourism can be seen as visiting destinations where the primary motivation for traveling to those destinations is the interest in visiting the flower and plant capabilities of a country or region, and it can include observing flowers and plants of a region, participating in flower and plant exhibitions, participating in agricultural training courses, buying and selling in flower and plant markets, and also attending flower and plant villages. Iran, especially Gilan province and its eastern region, has high flower and plant capabilities, and this rich potential can be a great opportunity to attract general and special tourists.
This research, using a descriptive and analytical method, using field and library studies, and using information gathering tools such as questionnaires, interviews, and observation, as well as databases and computer networks, and presenting it in the form of tables, graphs, and figures, introduces the concept of flower and plant tourism in Iran and the potentials of this branch of tourism in the province. It introduces Gilan and its eastern region and presents the available examples of this province. In the end, we come to the conclusion that this type of tourism in the eastern region of Gilan province has a high potential, and if a specific schedule is implemented and with a tourism approach, it can be effective in the development of urban and rural areas and empowering the residents of this province. Keywords: tourism, flower and plant tourism, Gilan province, eastern Gilan.
Introduction
Today, the direction of the movement of global domination is in a direction that has drawn the thinking of decision makers more than political and military conflicts to the relationship between people and governments as a factor in the development of countries after the unipolar system was recognized as a failed system and turned into a multi-purpose system of military war and In the 20th century, direct confrontation gave way to the Cold War and cultural conflicts. In this regard, the communication between people and cultures has a tremendous effect in facilitating the development process of the countries of the world. It is in this situation that the tourism industry appears as the best factor for the development of communication between people. In our time, tourism is one of the broad economic activities of the world in such a way that during the last five decades, tourism has been one of the main factors of the economic and social development of many countries. Nowadays, the most remote countries and even the cities are thinking about the income from tourism and preparing themselves (Bahmani, 1374, 5) Despite this, it must be said that tourism is not a new phenomenon, but has existed in human societies for a long time and has gradually become a technical, economic, social and ecological issue over time. Perhaps the word tourism is as old as the written history of man. Examining the history of the tourism industry shows that this phenomenon has not always been associated with a pleasant experience. In the past, people generally traveled with the motive to get food, while today tourism pursues multiple goals (Qasmi, 2008, 14) Iran has a special position to become a major tourist hub due to its special geographical conditions, climate diversity, history and ancient civilization and other cultural advantages. The tourism industry in the world is changing, tourists pursue specific goals and pay money to achieve their goals. Among other types of tourism, the branch of flower and plant tourism is introduced to tourists as a special type, flower and plant tourists are tourists with special interests who try to visit the vegetation samples of a region. In this research, the author scientifically examines flower and plant tourism in Iran and in the eastern region of Gilan province. The abilities and potentials of flower and plant tourism in the eastern region of Gilan are introduced and the areas of development of flower and plant tourism are presented based on them.
This thesis is presented in five chapters:
_ The first chapter: contains the generalities of the research, which includes the statement of the problem, research question, hypotheses, research method, scope of study, research objectives, research beneficiaries, research motivation, necessity and importance of research, obstacles and limitations, organization of research and concepts and words. The former is evaluated and reviewed. The closest opinions to the research are presented and the topics related to the research, such as tourism, roads, festival tourism, cultural tourism, and the geographic schools of realism and idealism are studied.
- The third chapter: includes geographical features in which the demographic and social geography and the economic geography of East Gilan are studied and displayed with a map.
- The fourth chapter: contains the findings of the research, which is divided into two parts. In the first part, he studies flowers and plants in the east of Gilan. Flower and plant tourism is a concept that has been researched in this sector and according to the potentials in the east of Gilan. And then it includes the second part of the research findings, in which the responses of the respondents to the flower and plant tourism questionnaire in the east of Gilan are analyzed based on the table and graph. The fifth chapter: includes conclusions, evaluation of hypotheses and suggestions, and according to the research findings, the scientific and practical results of the research are expressed. Next, according to the results of the audience's answers to the questionnaire, the hypotheses will be evaluated. Finally, we will come to the conclusion whether this branch of tourism in Gilan province will be applicable or not, according to its capabilities, a goal that undoubtedly has a lot of room for research and study. and it seems that in the near future, as a branch of tourism with respect for nature and sustainable development, it will be transformed from a conceptual and potential state to an operational and actual state. Flower and plant tourism is actually the travel of a number of people of a region to a place outside of their normal place of residence to visit the plant life resources of that region, in which a tourist aims to visit the wild ornamental flowers and medicinal plants of the urban and rural green space, agricultural fields, the products of that region's special plant species, trees and shrubs, and everything that is related to the plant life of a region. Flower and plant tourism attracts both domestic and foreign tourists, and the export of products is considered to earn foreign exchange. Gilan province and especially the eastern region of Gilan, due to being in a suitable geographical position and due to its considerable size and climatic diversity, has a very good potential in the field of tourism with specific goals such as flower and plant tourism. Eastern Gilan region, due to its special geographical location and having suitable hardware and software conditions to become a hub of flower and plant tourism, has suitable capabilities, but it seems that the lack of sufficient and scientific knowledge of the potentials and capabilities of this branch in the field of the relationship between tourism and flowers and plants, the lack of introduction of the flower and plant species of East Gilan region that are attractive to tourists, and also, the lack of scientific analysis of tourism and its species suitable for East Gilan region, has caused a kind of gap between these two sciences. which has prevented the eastern region of Gilan from having such a capability. Therefore, according to this and the existence of such capabilities, in the field of attracting and developing tourism, many economic, social, cultural and political obstacles and problems can be removed in the region of East Gilan, along with appropriate policies and planning. The above research should be carried out for the following reasons:- East Gilan has a lot of potential in the field of tourism, but tourism studies have not been done in the specific fields of this industry.