APPLICATION OF A'WOT METHOD IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN A NATIONAL PARK

Sustainable tourism in national parks needs long term management such as strategic management. In this type of management, strategic factors should be determined to formulate strategies properly. A'WOT method (a combination of SWOT and AHP) was used in which SWOT applied for analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of management system of sustainable tourism in Golestan National Park, Iran. AHP as an analytical method was applied to prioritize strategic factors. The results show that 25 strategic factors (internal and external factors) were determined in which the highest priorities are the members of strengths and opportunities groups. This indicates the importance of such factors in formulation or review of strategies. In the next step and after determination and prioritization of internal and external factors, new strategies can be set out. In addition, samples of new strategies, and an applied framework for sustainable tourism management in the study area are proposed. The application of such method can be considered as a useful method in strategic management and planning of sustainable tourism in Iranian national parks, because it is a simple method and prevents misjudgments.