THE EFFECT OF INFRASTRUCTURAL INTEGRATION OF REGIONAL TRANSPORT ON TOURISM PROMOTION: THE CASE OF GUILAN PROVINCE, IRAN

Abstract

This article examines the impacts of infrastructural integration of regional transport (IIRT) on tourism and the idea of using IIRT to promote tourism. The process of striving for IIRT requires a number of factors to be operationalized, among which the most common are: multimodal terminals (MMT), shared stops (SST), highway construction and improvement (HCI), and railway construction and improvement (RCI). The aim of this article is to evaluate the impacts of IIRT factors on the factors which lead towards the promotion of tourism. The results showed that Guilan province, despite of profiting with all four major transportation modes, has a lack of infrastructural integration among all transportation modes. Furthermore, it was concluded that IIRT can have a significant effect on the promotion of tourism and it can be used as an approach to promote the tourism industry of Guilan province with using several strategies in this regard.

Keywords

• infrastructural integration
• regional transport
• tourism promotion
• guilan province.