The University of the Aegean, Greece, undertakes a study on the development of tourism on Kish Island, Iran.
The island of Kish is located at the North-East part of the Persian Gulf and it is a part of Iran. The size of the island is approximately 91 square kilometres and the permanent residents are 20.000 people. Kish is surrounded by coral reefs and many smaller islands.
About 40 years ago, a research team studying the possibilities of tourism of the Island, compared it with some of the top destinations globally regarding its natural recourses. During the last 15 years, the Iranian government has promoted the Island as one of the most prestigious destinations of the country and as one of Dubai’s main competitors.
Kish has been named the pearl of the Persian Gulf, as New York Times magazine included it in the 10 most beautiful islands of 2010. It is the fourth most popular destination of the Middle East alongside Dubai and Sharm el Sheikh. Kish was established as a free trade zone which played a major role in the development of the tourism sector by boosting the island’s economy, both the in the commercial sector as well as the tourism one. The rapid development of tourism was mainly due to the fact that there is more social freedom and religious regulations are not as strict as in mainland Iran. Another fact that contributed to the development of tourism is that Kish is the only organised tourism resort of Iran.
The peak tourist period is between December and March, mainly January and February. The tourist flow comes mainly from Iran and the surrounding countries and less from Europe and U.S.A. There are 45 hotels on the Island which are divided into 3 categories, budget, medium class and luxury hotels. Potential tourists can get information about Kish from the following websites, www.gokish.ir or www.kishtpc.com. In the case where the tourist wants to travel around the Island, there are many means of transportation like minibuses, rental cars, taxis and bicycles.
The tourist product of the island is composed mainly by physical and by human elements. In particular, the sandy beaches, coral reefs and cultural landmarks are the main attractions that draw tourists to the island. Visitors can arrive by air thanks to the international airport, and also by sea, without a visa.
The only official organization that is based on Kish and assists in the development of the tourism sector is Kish Free Trade Organisation. For the collection of relevant information, a primary research was conducted by a team of postgraduate tourism students of the University of the Aegean, Greece using questionnaires distributed to tourists who had visited Kish and organizations that operate on the Island. The platform used to create the survey was www.surveymonkey.com and the distribution was mainly through social media.
The social policies that apply as far as religious regulations are concerned, for women are much more relaxed in comparison with the mainland Iran. Immigration policies are also relaxed. Kish’s economy is based on oil trade and tourism while technology on the island is at a good level because of the University of Technology. The island’s natural environment is in good condition despite the pollution problems due to tourism and commercial activities. Finally, the legislation about foreign investment is relaxed and encourages businesses to get involved and take part in local development.
The Island’s key geographical position, the lenient religious legislation and the fact that is a free trade zone compound the main strengths of Kish according to our research. The survey showed that the high seasonality of tourism, the clear diversification of genders and the low educational standards of the employees in hotels and other businesses constitute the Island’s main weaknesses.
Possible opportunities the Island could take advantage of in order to further develop the tourism sector is cooperation with international tour operators and the improvement transportation infrastructure, as well as promoting the island as a luxury destination to attract tourists from higher income layers. On the other hand, the unstable political situation of Iran and the deterioration of the natural environment are the most worrying competitive disadvantages.
To promote Kish as a tourist destination it is necessary to use both traditional and digital ways of advertising and promotion in order to establish a recognizable Brand Name globally.
Cooperation with tour operators, personal salesmen, operations hosting journalists and people involved in tourism and the taking part in Tourism Fairs, can reduce seasonality and attract new tourist markets. Finally, sales promotion through the use of loyalty schemes, merchandising and other methods are likely to increase tourist arrivals in the region.
The development of the Internet has led to the need of tourism companies, to adapt to the new technologies, created by the constantly changing global market. E-business and E-promotion strategies compound new methods of advertising and promotion of tourism products which provide measurable results that can be designed to serve each market segment individually.
By using interactive navigation systems, destination management system (DMS) and customer relationship management (CRM), E-Business could help the local tourist office to meet its elevated expectations due to the increase of its role.
E-Promotion is designed to directly increase the profitability of companies, using tools and applications that are accessible through the Internet. The creation of user-friendly websites, multimedia applications will give tourists a clear overview of the destination and the services provided. Furthermore, the use of Social Media and synergies with other organizations and companies related to tourism, constitute a modern way of promoting the destination. Concluding, Kish has to develop a modern digital advertisement campaign, of which the main goal will be to attract tourists to the Island and furthermore put Kish on the Global tourism map.
In order an efficient development plan to be implemented, a constant monitoring and follow up of the results of the applying strategies is essential. Finally, the measurement and effectiveness of the methods adopted to achieve the objectives stated at the beginning of the research help the further modification of the strategies used in order the development plan to be as effective as possible and reflect the needs and future goals of the Island.
After analyzing the questionnaires and studying the micro and macro environment of the island, the conclusions that emerged helped us realize that Kish should focus on developing alternative forms of tourism such as MICE tourism, sports tourism, educational or cultural tourism. The reason behind this idea is that mass tourism has dominated the tourism market of the Island, spoils the natural environmental and derogates its Brand Name. Therefore, in order to prevent such occurrences, the University of the Aegean suggests the development of special interest tourism and incentives that will lead to sustainable development of the island, will not exceed Kish’s carrying capacity and will contribute to gain a competitive advantage in comparison with its main competitors. Because of the fact that the main incentive that leads tourists to the Island is the sandy beaches, the forms of tourism that were presented above should act supplementary to that in a sustainable way.
* John-Nicholas Bubaris, Eleni Psoma, Foteini-Alexandra Binou, Veronica Kaloudi and George Kouloumoundras are five talented postgraduate students from the University of the Aegean, Greece, who jointly undertook a detailed tourism development project on Kish Island, Iran under the supervision of Associate Professor Dr Andreas Papatheodorou.
TravelDailyNews Asia-Pacific editorial team has an experience of over 35 years in B2B travel journalism as well as in tourism & hospitality marketing and communications.
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