Studies and Design of the Second Part of Phase One and Phase Two of the Tourist Park on the Margins of the Historical Bridges of Khodaafarin

Cultural tourism, and tourism industry in general, in addition to being a spiritual, psychological, and cultural phenomenon, is also an economically profitable activity by creating tourism attractions according to various systems. Today, it is considered the third highest income-generating industry in the world (Lotfi & Ghasemi, 2010).

Cultural tourists are individuals who travel to see all or part of historical, artistic, scientific works, lifestyles, handicrafts, souvenirs of communities, religion, social class, and customs. Nowadays, they tend to seek experiences of other cultures (Gil, 1999). Although cultural approaches in border studies are not very common today, possibly because researchers believe that everything worth saying about borders and boundaries has already been said, it must be acknowledged that borders still play a very important role in shaping human life (Moyer, 2000).

Spatial planning of border areas in Iran holds a special place in the country’s planning system due to the presence of long borders and the fact that more than half of the country’s provinces lie along international borders with neighboring countries (Pishgahi-Fard, 2009). Therefore, border areas are unique places where theories and models used for cultural, economic, political, social, and geographical plans are mostly justified. This planning requires special attention, and one of the priorities is to emphasize cooperation and participation at border crossings for the growth and development of the tourism industry.

The scope of tourism activities in border regions is extensive, and many of the most famous tourist attractions coincide exactly with borders. The expansion of tourism in these areas is seen as an opportunity that, until now, has mostly belonged to internal regions of the country. Among these, cooperative border crossings with a shared development discourse can organize financial resources on both sides of the border, and media outlets along national borders, by broadcasting joint efforts of two countries extensively among audiences everywhere, can greatly increase the effectiveness of development actions (Lotfi, 2009).