Comparative review of economic opportunity for handmade carpet businesses via tourism in Iran and Turkey

Tourism is an international industry with complex social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts. This industry is one of the largest and most rapidly growing industries of the world with several specialized tourism types. Cultural tourism is one of these niche tourism types that needs cultural heritage for success. In this vein, handmade carpets are good examples of cultural heritage attractions for tourism industry. Handmade carpets have been a valuable commodity for many centuries. This luxurious and valuable commodity is an important source of income in Iran after oil industry and its by-products. Iran and Turkey are the two largest producers of handmade carpets in the world, which have recently lost their internationally competitive markets due to the arrival of new countries to the market such as India, Pakistan, China, and Nepal among others. The tourism industry in general and cultural tourism in particular can create opportunities to re-establish international markets for Iran and Turkey. The purpose of this article is to review the research conducted on the economic value of tourism and handmade carpets based on a qualitative research. Desktop research on existing literature partly reveals the current situation of handmade carpet commercialization via tourism in these two countries. Results of the preliminary secondary data analysis show that, both in Iran and in Turkey, the production and export of handmade carpets have greatly decreased. Carpet production is specifically a source of income for the villagers. With the increase of education level and migration from rural to urban areas, the production of handmade carpets has been in crisis. Due to the high value of this expensive commodity, it is necessary to create suitable conditions in the context of the tourism industry in order to improve economic conditions in poverty zones. Revival of carpet industry can also bring non-economic benefits to the society.

Keywords:

Handicrafts , handmade carpets , cultural tourism , Iran , Turkey.