As an emerging concept in tourism studies, “Contemporary Arts Tourism” is currently discussed within the framework of Cultural Tourism studies. The growing status of Arts Tourism in developed countries indicates the significance of art in a sustainable development proce
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As an emerging concept in tourism studies, “Contemporary Arts Tourism” is currently discussed within the framework of Cultural Tourism studies. The growing status of Arts Tourism in developed countries indicates the significance of art in a sustainable development process. The case also holds true for Iran. In this regard, the current status of the “Culture and Arts” and “Tourism” economy heralds a promising future as an alternative to the present economy that is based on oil and natural resources, considering the fact that the cultural capital required for such a development already exists. Therefore, this study sought to identify the challenges and requirements of developing contemporary art tourism in Iran using the grounded theory approach. To this end, the required data were collected through specialized interviews with twenty-seven participants, including art experts, tourism professionals, and relevant government employees. The collected data were then analyzed using three stages of coding, including open, axial, and selective coding.
According to the study’s results, the government, the tourism sector, and the art society were identified as the main actors (stakeholders) in developing contemporary art tourism in Iran. However, as the concerted performance of such actors is crucially important for the realization of the goals of such a development, redefining the actors’ roles and revising their duties are the main requirements of such a development. Furthermore, factors such as training, flexibility, improvement of the artistic creation’s infrastructure, development of the tourism industry’s requirements, and correction of Iran's image in the international arena seem to be of great importance.
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