The role of cultural diversity in tourism development, a case study of Iran, England and Malaysia

Dissertation of Master's course in Tourism Management

Abstract

Tourism is one of the big industries that has been greatly noticed by different countries in the last decades of the 20th century and has turned this industry into one of the largest industries in the world. The importance of this industry necessitates the existence of comprehensive and up-to-date studies, among which the study of cultural diversity according to the needs of the world today is one of them. Considering the process of globalization and UNESCO's emphasis on cultural diversity in countries, the protection and proper exploitation of this human heritage is highly considered. The cultural diversity in Iran is one of the biggest tourism potentials that has influenced Iran's tourism for a long time. This research with a descriptive approach to investigate the relationship between cultural diversity and tourism development with comparative studies between the countries of Iran, England and Malaysia has tried to show the relationship between the two by collecting reliable secondary data through descriptive statistics. The findings of the research indicate the existence of a significant relationship between cultural diversity and tourism, which is confirmed by the statistics of incoming tourists; So that the existence of cultural affinity between tourists and Iranian society on the one hand and the countless diversity of Iran's cultural potentials on the other hand increases the strength of this relationship and increases the share of tourists of the same culture entering Iran. Of course, Iran's cultural policies in this context are considered to be very important points that so far, due to their ups and downs, have not been able to have proper consequences on Iran's cultural diversity.

Key words: cultural diversity, tourism, cultural policies, descriptive statistics.

Chapter 1

Generalities

Introduction

The world economy today is formed on the basis of several large industries, one of these industries It is tourism. This industry, which has existed for a long time, has taken an organized form in the last few decades and has somehow entered the field of competition with other service industries. Tourism, which is rightly called the industry of the 21st century, is considered a very diverse and at the same time complex business (Zahedi, Ranjbarian, 2016: 7).  Social planners believe that without a correct cultural understanding of societies in terms of differences and similarities between them, proper planning cannot be done to attract tourists and develop the tourism industry. Today, one of the most effective sources of attracting tourists is appropriate cultural interaction and relying on special cultural relationships (Karoubi, 2008: 53). The discussion of culture has long been intertwined in all aspects of human life. Since in the 21st century, all sciences and concepts of human life are examined in a scientific and specialized manner, the concept of culture has not been excluded from this rule. With the increase in the volume of travel and tourism around the world, thinkers in this field are trying to make all aspects of this industry scientific and make the most of them. One of the concepts that has always been associated with tourism is culture. Next to this concept, topics such as cultural diversity stand out. In their studies, tourism planners have reached the results of the close relationship between cultural diversity and tourism. Many countries that are leaders in the field of tourism and use all the potentials for the development of tourism, also consider the issue of cultural diversity. Therefore, it is important to examine the contribution of cultural diversity in the development of tourism. In this chapter, the issue of the relationship between cultural diversity and tourism development is studied. The necessity of conducting this research based on the benefits and potentials it creates makes us do this important thing. The existing theoretical foundations in this direction provide the way for scientific and valid research and provide the means to be on the right and scientific path. The objectives of this research are correctly defined and presented so that clear and practical answers can be turned into practical and scientific solutions after the complete research. The primary hypotheses to answer the questions form the objectives of this work. The operational definition of the primary and key concepts of this research provides concepts so that measurements and overall calculations can be formed correctly. Finally, the limitations of this research are stated so that the level of possible error is considered.. Now that tourism is included in the consumption basket of many households in the world and is an integral part of life, a deeper understanding of it is required. For this reason, the importance of tourism in today's world is obvious to everyone. In today's world, the complexity of human social life, on the one hand, and the advantages and benefits of tourism and the income it brings to the society, on the other hand, lead us to the scientific investigation of issues related to tourism (Shams, 2008: 82). The development of this industry in industrialized countries will diversify incomes and reduce disharmony in the economy, and in developing countries, in addition, the profit of the industry is an opportunity for export, foreign exchange production, and employment creation (Hall, 1994: 457). Tourism has existed for a long time and has been done in different ways in different centuries. The reasons and motivations for traveling in every era have shown the needs of the people of their time. But after the industrial revolution, tourism took on a special color. Creation of industrial workshops, urbanization, specific period of time to work in these factories; Changing occupations, expanding the middle class and increasing purchasing power provided the basic grounds for the existence of leisure time for people, and the first one-day trips were formed for the general public. From the first caravan journey from Venice to Jerusalem (Renaissance period) to today's journeys, all are due to the changes that have occurred in the human life cycle. Today's tourism, along with a set of desires, movement, access to facilities and financial capabilities, has made mass travel possible. The advancement of technology has led to an increase in the amount of group trips for several reasons, which include increasing leisure time, increasing income, improving telecommunications and creating efficient ways of transportation (Gay, 2016: 30). The growth of leisure time and cheap transportation continued and the number of relatively rich countries increased and foreign tours are increasing. Domestic travel has also expanded and nowadays people use their holidays more and better. Gradually, new travel destinations have emerged, and as a result, today tourism has become one of the world's major economic industries (Das Weil, 1378: 17). According to data from the World Tourism Organization, the number of international tourists has increased from 25.3 million in 1950 to 846 million in 2006 with an average annual growth rate of 6.6%. 11.3% has reached 741.2 billion dollars and the income per tourist was 876 dollars per capita. In 1950, the United States and Europe had 96% of the tourism market, but in 2006, it decreased to 70.6%, while the share of Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa has increased (Razvani, 2009: 3). The tourism economy represents 5% of the world's gross product, while 6-7% of the world's total employment is related to this industry. International tourism ranks fourth (after fuel, chemicals and cars) in global exports, with a value of one thousand billion dollars per year (about 30% of the world's commercial exports or 6% of total exports). 935 million international tourists were recorded in 2010 and 4 billion domestic tourists in 2008. In more than 150 countries, tourism is one of the five export industries and in 60 countries it is the first export. Tourism is the main source of foreign exchange for a third of developing and semi-developed countries (Prokosch, 2011: 414). According to the report of the World Tourism Organization and the Tourism Vision Program in 2020, the number of tourists around the world will reach one billion 600 million people in 2020 (ibid., 2019: 3). In this competition, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Spain, England and the United States of America did not win the first to sixth positions in 2013. A look at the statistical tables of the ranking of the countries shows the tough competition between them. In a way that in 2011 France had the third place in this ranking and now it is in the seventh place. Iran's position has increased from 114th to 94th and Malaysia has been promoted from 35th to 34th (Blanke & et, 2013:10). has also affected Therefore, in the areas prone to tourism development, tourism driving factors should be sought (Taghvai et al., 2011: 27). One of the factors of tourism development is the integration of cultural tangibles with this industry.