https://www.journalitor.ir/ Social Studies in Tourism en daily 1 Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0330 Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0330 https://www.journalitor.ir/article_734947.html In today’s world, tourism is widely acknowledged as a fundamental right of the public. Therefore, the policymakers and planners are required to take concrete measures to ensure equitable access of the public to tourism, particularly for persons suffering from disabilities. In this regard, some significant projects have been carried out in Iran. However, what matters the most in such projects is the quality and the extent to which the projects address the specific needs of the target groups, which can meaningfully be identified through the travel narratives of the tourists themselves. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the experiences of blind individuals who have participated in group tours alongside sighted travelers. The required data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 20 blind participants who were selected throughout Iran using purposive sampling. The data were then analyzed based on Butler-Kisber’s (2010) descriptive phenomenological method using the ATLAS TI qualitative analysis software.  The findings of the study indicated that blind travelers’ experiences could be classified into two overarching categories: tangible experiences and intangible (mental) experiences, both significantly shaped by the visitors’ travel motivations. Moreover, it was found that such experiences exerted considerable influence on the participants’ post-travel decisions. The study also highlighted the pivotal role of travelers’ initial motivations and their perceived image of the destination in shaping post-travel decisions. Taking the findings into consideration, the study proposes some recommendations to improve the travel experiences of blind individuals participating in group tours. https://www.journalitor.ir/article_734946.html This study set out to investigate the clustering of Iranian provinces based on the hospitality index and the quality of interactions between foreign tourists and local host communities, using the data collected from the Couchsurfing social network. The primary objectives were to assess the quality of interactions between foreign tourists and local hosts in Iran and to propose a novel social hospitality index for each province. To this end, a netnographic approach was employed, leveraging web-scraping tools and Python programming to extract and analyze data from approximately 480,000 profiles of local Iranian hosts published on the Couchsurfing platform. Following data collection, tourist satisfaction of the local hosts in each province was evaluated using netnography, and a hospitality index was calculated and presented for each province. The findings of the study revealed significant variations in the interaction experiences of foreign tourists across different regions in Iran. The Iranian provinces were then classified into four distinct clusters based on the hospitality index using cluster analysis. The index proposed in this study can serve as an effective tool for planning and enhancing tourism experiences across Iranian provinces. Moreover, by introducing a new measurement criterion and utilizing social network data, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of hospitality behaviors in Iran and their influence on attracting tourists. https://www.journalitor.ir/article_734943.html One of the determining factors in traveling to tourist destinations is the image that individuals hold of a destination. In this regard, cinema is considered one of the most influential media in shaping the image of different phenomena in the mind of the audience, including the image of potential tourist destinations. Accordingly, this study sought to identify the image of Mashhad as represented in cinema. To this end, all the movies that represent the image of Mashhad were collected. Then, using Fiske's semiotic model, the codes of social reality, representational codes, and ideological codes were analyzed in terms of visual characteristics, the director’s creativity, and the ideology and belief system underlying the legitimacy and acceptability of the codes, respectively. The findings of the study indicated that the representation of Mashhad in cinema could be divided into three general categories: The first category comprises identity-oriented movies, generating an appealing representation of the city as a whole and, in a sense, of Khorasan culture. The second category includes movies themed on pilgrimage, which themselves are divided into two groups: the movies focused on the pilgrimage of Imam Reza (AS), whose holy shrine catalyzes transformation and change, and the movies where traveling to Mashhad leads to the resolution of one’s problems. The third category consists of movies centered on social issues, representing problems such as poverty, marginalization, unemployment, and prostitution, class differences, and the dichotomy of poverty and wealth. https://www.journalitor.ir/article_734942.html Considering the significant role of women in the tourism industry, this study sought to develop a coherent framework for empowering women in the industry. To this end, this qualitative study conducted a systematic review of Iranian academic literature, employing an inductive approach informed by the framework of Calisto and Sarker (2024). Taking the influence of cultural, economic, and political conditions into account, a comprehensive search was carried out across reputable scientific databases that index national research to obtain a complete overview of the topic within the Iranian academic context, where research on women's empowerment in tourism is a relatively new field. The findings of the study revealed a predominant geographical focus, organized into five thematic clusters. These clusters emphasize women's empowerment in rural tourism, skill development, specific tourism types like ecotourism, and their empowerment through training, conservation, and participation. The analysis also highlighted themes of entrepreneurship and sustainable tourism development. The literature pointed to various dimensions of women's empowerment, including enhancements of their social status, power, self-sufficiency, and self-esteem. The existing national academic discourse has primarily focused on the practical "how" of empowerment, highlighting the importance of employment, education, capacity building, motivation, management and planning, and policy frameworks, suggesting a comprehensive and multifaceted approach to the issue. However, despite the growth rate of women's employment within tourism, the industry's potential for full empowerment of women has not yet been realized. This gap underscores the significance of this study and the nascent state of national studies in this field. https://www.journalitor.ir/article_734945.html AbstractThis study sought to investigate the role of superstitious beliefs as an intangible cultural element in shaping the perceived attractiveness of tourism destinations in Gilan Province and their influence on the visiting intentions of domestic visitors. The main objective of the research was to explain how visitors’ attitudes toward superstition and their superstitious personality traits influenced their tendency to choose destinations with symbolic and supernatural associations. The study was conducted based on Planned Behavior theory, which posits attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control as key determinants of behavioral intention. The study adopted a quantitative approach using a survey–correlational design. The required data were collected through a questionnaire administered to 300 domestic visitors. The collected data were then analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS software. The findings of the study revealed a significant and positive correlation between attitudes toward superstition and visiting intention (r = 0.52, p < 0.001), with superstitious personality traits strengthening such a correlation as a moderating variable. Moreover, the results of Hierarchical regression analysis and the assessment of the conceptual model in AMOS proved a significant correlation between the path coefficients of attitude toward destination attractiveness, visiting intention, and the interacting effect of superstitious trait, indicating the satisfactory fit of the model (RMSEA = 0.046, CFI = 0.95). It can be concluded that superstitious beliefs, if aligned with visitors’ expectations, may serve as an opportunity for designing distinctive tourism experiences and enhancing destination attractiveness, thereby providing tourism planners and marketers with valuable insights. https://www.journalitor.ir/article_734944.html Inspired by overtourism, many destinations are seeking to attract visitors who tend to provide for a higher level of expenditure. Therefore, this survey study set out to investigate the perception of visitors with different levels of expenditure and length of stay the quality of the tourism product. To this end, An Importance-Performance matrix improved through gap analysis was used to assess tourism product quality. Moreover, 110 Iranian visitors entering Guilan Province were selected to participate in this study, who were then classified into three categories according to the model proposed by Dewyer et al. (2020): 1) high expenditure visitors, 2) low expenditure-short length of stay visitors, and 3) low expenditure-long length of stay visitors. recruited. The results of one-way ANOVA revealed a statistically meaningful difference among the three groups in terms of the performance-importance gap of 20 quality variables. On the other hand, the moderation effect test was conducted on the expenditure level/length of stay using PROCESS Code 4.0 software, the results of which showed that expenditure level/length of stay moderated the relationship between intention to visit Guilan and the gap scores of 9 quality attributes. Considering the results of IPA matrices, the gap comparison test, and the test of the moderating role of the expenditure level/length of stay on gap-intention relationships, the study recommends strategic actions concerning different quality attributes to be used for attracting the three groups of visitors mentioned above. Accordingly, improving building luxurious hotels and restaurants and improving the quality of the currently available ones can help attract more visitors who tend to spend higher expenses for their stay.