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      • Open Access Article

        1 - Assessing the Elasticity of Health Tourism Demand from Middle Eastern Countries
        hamid  asayesh mahdi kamali hadi rahmani fazli
        Comprising medical and health (prevention) types of tourism, health tourism is of great importance for Iran, considering the country’s potential medical capabilities (the presence of qualified practicing physicians and extensive medical and treatment facilities) and app More
        Comprising medical and health (prevention) types of tourism, health tourism is of great importance for Iran, considering the country’s potential medical capabilities (the presence of qualified practicing physicians and extensive medical and treatment facilities) and appropriate natural health resources (such as hot springs, salt domes, salt lakes, and Mud therapy facilities). Moreover, the capacity of health tourism in terms of foreign exchange earnings is more than three times than that of ordinary international tourism. However, despite its great capacities, Iran has a modest share of the health tourism market, the increase in which requires the assessment of the elasticity of health tourism demand from the Middle East in terms of the relevant effective factors. Therefore, this study sought to find answers to the following basic questions: 1- What are the factors affecting the demand for health tourism? 2- What is the elasticity of the demand for health tourism in terms of such factors? To this end, this study assessed the demand for health tourism using the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) and the simultaneous equation Model. Moreover, a questionnaire was administered to 182 tourists coming from the Persian Gulf countries to express their opinion regarding health tourism and estimate the elasticity of health tourism demands in terms of relevant effective factors. The results of the AIDS estimations revealed that the price elasticity of health tourism demand was greater than one, while the price elasticity of other products and accommodation services was less than one. Moreover, it was found that the elasticity of health tourists' demand from Iran belonged to significant variables such as the tourist’s income level, visa validity, expenses, exchange rate variations, and the inflation rate. Manuscript profile
      • Open Access Article

        2 - Identifying the Factors Involved in Applying IoT to Smartening Tourism Destinations Using Future Studies Approach: A Case Study of Fars Province
        Khadije Kaveh maryam nekooeezadeh Moslem  Alimohammadlo
        Fars province is one of the main hubs of tourism centers in Iran. Therefore, paying special attention to tourism in the province and using Internet-of-things technology in its tourism management can provide suitable facilities for improving the welfare of its visiting t More
        Fars province is one of the main hubs of tourism centers in Iran. Therefore, paying special attention to tourism in the province and using Internet-of-things technology in its tourism management can provide suitable facilities for improving the welfare of its visiting tourists, thus increasing the visiting rate of its tourist destinations. In this regard, the present study sought to predict and identify the most important factors involved in applying the Internet of Things technology to the Smartization of tourist destinations in Fars province and to develop feasible desirable future scenarios thereof. To this end, the required data for this applied study were collected by conducting interviews, administering questionnaires, and carrying out a systematic review of related literature. Finally, the collected data were analyzed by the Scenario Wizard software using the MICMAC method. The results of the MICMAC analysis revealed the main role of 14 key variables in the application of the Internet of Things technology to the Smartization of tourist destinations in Fars province. On the other hand, two strong scenarios, 1548 weak scenarios, and nine scenarios with high compatibility were obtained using the Scenario Wizard software. Accordingly, the study used the aforementioned nine high-compatibility scenarios, finding that the future of tourism in Fars province would be similar to the current circumstances. It was also found that the trend of changes in the status of tourism would be slow and that the chances of applying the Internet of Things technology to the province’s tourism destinations would be low. Finally, based on the obtained scenarios, the study proposed some strategies to achieve the desired results in smart tourism. Therefore, the results of the current study could help tourism professionals prepare the ground for the application of state-of-the-art technologies such as the Internet of Things to tourism and thus develop the field through setting long-term plans. Manuscript profile