DEVELOPING OF MARINE TOURISM IN NORTH OF IRAN, CASE STUDY: COASTS OF MAZANDARAN PROVINCE

Today marine tourism as one of the subcategories of the extensive tourism industry, can play a significant role in economic flourishing and entrepreneurship along withsuitable usage of natural and cultural resources. Decrease of destructive effect of tourism on natural, social, cultural and other resources depends on the need for accurate andacademic studies and planning Today marine tourism as one of the subcategories of the extensive tourism industry, can play a significant role in economic flourishing and entrepreneurship along with suitable usage of natural and cultural resources. Decrease of destructive effect of tourism on natural, social, cultural and other resources depends on the need for accurate and academic studies and planning Caspian coastlines, especially the coasts of Mazandaran province, have a great potential for development of themarine tourism industry due to its exclusive natural and socio-cultural attractions. The first step in this direction is the recognition and assessment of prone areas withcomprehensive consideration on aspects of tourism development. In this regard, the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) program, on purpose of sustainabledevelopment, prepared to promote the proper allocation of land use on shoreline, have especial consideration on tourism sector.Unfortunately, due to the lack of knowledge andcitation on academic methods for site selection, the weakness in implementation of existing plans and the lack of clarification of the high-level documents in grand scale, action taken to the growth of this industry, failed to provide the required quality and caused great damages to the environment. BEhin Tarh Apadana (BETA Group) was retained by the Iranian Port and Maritime Organization (PMO) to analyze and select the appropriate sites for marine tourism development on the coasts of Mazandaran province