Iran’s Tourism Industry in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic: a SWOT Analysis

Due to tourism industry vulnerability to external environmental shocks, there would be of great interest for tourism practitioners and policy-makers to identify major factors to analysis tourism in a country in the context of COVID–19, but there is not such a research on Iran’s tourism. To do that, a method that can be used to identify favorable and unfavorable factors, solve current problems in a targeted manner, recognize the challenges, obstacles and formulate strategic plans to guide scientific decisions would be SWOT. Thus, this research used SWOT analysis to examine the strengths, threats, opportunities and weaknesses of Iran’s tourism facing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The data was collected through an in-depth review since there were a rich literature and organizational reports on Iran’s tourism and its performance, only needed to be recruited in the context of the emerged pandemic. Using thequalitative content analysis and coding process, the SWOT matrix was extracted. Results indicate it is crucial for Iran’s authorities to define tourism as a strategic sector of Iranian economy if they want to reduce the pandemic’s impacts on tourism and enhance its recovery. Iran's tourism is affected by international political and economic trends, thus, the government bodies and policy-makers should enhance public and diplomatic relationships with foreign countries. Findings illustrate Iran's tourism potential, but constraints such as ineffective management, inefficient budget and low competitiveness should overcome for its adaption to this critical crisis.

Iran’s Tourism Industry in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic: a SWOT Analysis Keywords:

COVID-19 pandemic , SWOT analysis , tourism , Iran