World Journal of Sport Sciences 5 (4): 216-220, 2011 ISSN 2078-4724 © IDOSI Publications, 2011 Corresponding Author: Javad Adabi Firouzjah, Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Faculty of Humanities, Iran. World Tourism Organization (WTO), 2001, "Sport and Tourism Shaping Global Culture" on WWW at http// www.world- 1 tourism.org. 216 An Investigation of the Effective Factors on Sport Tourism Development in IRAN with the Emphasis on Natural - Sport Attractions Hashem Koozehchian, Mohammad Ehsani and Javad Adabi Firouzjah 1 1 2 Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Faculty of Humanities 1 Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Qom University, Faculty of Humanities 2 Abstract: Tourism is one of the most important industries in the world. Sport tourism is considered as a part of tourism that has arisen from the integration of tourism and sport. Recently, it has rapidly changed into a big and independent industry in the world. One of the influential factors in sport tourism development is the natural recourses of the country. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of natural-sport attractions on the sport tourism development in Iran and also the problems in this area. The data were collected from three groups of participants as a sample of the study: tourism experts of Iran Cultural Inheritance and Tourism Organization (N=37), experts of active travel agencies in the field of tourism (N=60) and the sport experts of ten sport federations in Iran such as swimming, horse riding, hunting, track and field, skiing, golf, general sports, mountaineering, bicycling and boating (N=30). A researcher-made questionnaire was distributed among subjects and 112 questionnaires were completed. The data were analyzed by factor analysis using SPSS software. From the viewpoint of three groups of experts, hiking, water and summer sports, desert tourism and hunting and fishing were most important in sport tourism development in Iran. Also, regarding the problems of sport tourism in Iran, findings showed that cultural problems were the most significant issues in the area of sport tourism in Iran. Managerial problems were the second important barrier in this area. The third most important problem in Iran sport tourism was infrastructural problems. Moreover, the results showed that seasonality in Iran less affected sport tourism development. Key words: Tourism %Sport tourism %Natural-sport attractions %Iran INTRODUCTION together and in doing so contributes to a better Tourism is one of the great industries in the world. Coubertaine’s concept that gave sports tourism its vitality According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the and foundation [2]. number of tourists has a 4.3 percent growth annually and The issue of sport tourism has become one of the will reached 1.6 billion in 2020. At the same time, the new research approaches in recent years [3]. The concept expenditure of tourists with a growth rate of 6.7 percent of sport tourism is a complex one. The complexity annually has reached 2 trillion dollars . emanates from the difficulties in defining the concept. 1 Sport tourism is a combination of tourism and sport, Gibson (1998) defined sport tourism as “leisure-based in which many people are working all around the world. travel that takes individuals temporarily outside of their The subject of participation or watching sport events home communities to play, watch physical activities or have existed since the ancient Olympic; where people venerate attractions associated with these activities” [3]. gathered in the Olympic mountain from various places to Sport tourism makes an important contribution to local watch their champions’ competition [1]. and national economies and appears to have substantial Baron Pierre de Coubertaine, the father of the modern potentials to further build on this contribution [4]. Sport Olympic Games, gives inspiration for the development of tourism in industrial countries includes 1-2 percent of GDP sports tourism. It was his belief that …sport brings people and it has a 10-percent increased rate annually [5]. understanding between peoples and nations. It was de