www.chnpress.com The International Conference on Tourism of Islamic Countries will be held in Tehran in March 2007 to discuss the current state of tourism in these countries and find ways for promoting it.

Having a glance at the statistics of UNWTO on Tourism industry, reveals the necessity of paying serious attention to this industry in the Islamic countries. According to the above mentioned statistics, only four Islamic countries (Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt) are witnessed to be among the top 25 tourist-absorbing countries, which have a total share of less than 0.07 percent of entirety of tourist entrance into all 25 countries. Moreover, the 13% share of 57 member countries of the Islamic Conference Organization from worldأ¢â‚¬â„¢s total tourist population and a total tourism income of 680 milliard dollars globally in 2005, which is merely 138 milliard dollars more than the total revenue earned by the OPEC countries, should be added.

Consequently, prioritizing the analysis of various approaches toward increasing the share of Islamic countries in the global tourism market should be taken into consideration while establishing their macro policies. This seminar is aimed at broaching tourism-related topics in company with emphasizing on various unique tourist attractions in Islamic countries considering different dimensions of Islamic Tourism in order to benefit from the outcomes of this seminar in taking the first steps toward planning for cultivating this industry in the Islamic world.

Aims:

1.      Analyzing the state of tourism in the world of Islam.( barriers and solutions)

2.      Originating required mechanisms for identifying and introducing areas with a high potential in tourist absorption.

3.      Modeling the advertising scheme for tourism of Islamic countries according to different requirements of the target market.

4.      Forecasting the appropriate processes of profiting from the potential capacities of the Islamic World (OIC, IDB).

5.      Developing a Think Tank based on the information gained through the seminar.

Topics of the seminar:

أ‚آ·        Islamic tourism: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats: analyzing the effective external and internal elements on  Islamic tourism.

أ‚آ·        Economy of the Islamic Tourism: focusing on the monetary flow of the tourism industry in Islamic countries (comparative study).

أ‚آ·        Geography of tourism in the world of Islam: emphasizing on numerous geographical attractions of the Islamic countries as the key stone of attracting tourists.

أ‚آ·        Islamic tourism management: analyzing the operational management process

أ‚آ·        Target markets of the Islamic Tourism: analyzing diverse structural dimensions of targeted societies emphasizing on their typological differences. 

أ‚آ·        Islamic Tourism and Enlightenment: introducing attractions, facilities, privileges and etc to target societies.

Administration:

The seminar will be held in the following three segments:

1. Scientific speeches
2. Professional panels
3. Workshops

Topics of the scientific speeches:

1. The necessity of introducing Islamic Tourism; the benefits and the drawbacks

Which goals do the Islamic Tourism pursue? Analyzing the distinguishing specifications of the Islamic Tourism.                                                            

Limitations of the Islamic Tourism: evaluating the functional domain of  Islamic Tourism.                                                                                                    

  Variety of the offered products: introducing the components of the Islamic Tourism and the potentials of tourist attraction                                                     Target market: analyzing the addressee of Islamic Tourism ;( Muslims, non-Muslims),  paving the way for the conceptual acceptance of Islamic Tourism, Know-hows of nourishing the knowledge needs of the addressees and proposing the proper mean of presenting those information.                                                                                                                                    

2. Tourism industry in Islamic Countries before and after 9/11: pathologic analysis of terrorist actions and their effects on  Tourism Industry emphasizing on  Islamic Tourism.
3. Islamic Culture highlighting the Islamic Architecture( various contingencies of Islamic Architecture):  focusing on the Islamic Architecture and its various visual potentials for attracting tourists.

Professional panels:

Basic requisites of the Islamic Tourism:

أ‚آ·        Different approaches of producing the sense of security (with the emphasis on aspects of soft security)

أ‚آ·        Required infrastructures for acceptance of Tourism in Islamic countries (estimate quantitative indexes such as accommodation, transportation, currency exchange, hygiene facilitiesأ¢â‚¬آ¦)

أ‚آ·        Foreign policies and Islamic Tourism (the position of Islamic Tourism in strategic priorities of foreign policies in Islamic countries.)

Workshops:

1. Feasible study of different aspects of establishing a hospitality club for Muslim youth in Islamic countries:                        

 This is remarkably important due to the huge population of young Muslims and their potential demand for growing to be tourists. Workshop topics are as followed:

• analyzing the means of communicating with the targeted society (young tourists)