Somayeh Hamidi., - Assistant Professor of Political Science Department of Birjand University
Mahtab Dehghani - M.A Student of Political Science in Birjand University

Nowadays tourism as a lucrative industry has been considered by developed countries. Desert tourism is a kind of tourism that can be utilized in some countries because of its relation with special climate situations in hot and dry areas. Iran is among the countries that has widespread desert areas. Utilizing desert and its tourism potentials are among the ways of increasing security and consistent development in desert areas. Some parts of Iran’s desert are located in South Khorasan that its tourism potential can provide a suitable opportunity for developing this county. This research uses analytical-descriptive method and tries to examine and analyze the effect of developing desert tourism on the security of South Khorasan County from the perspective of examining hurdles and available opportunities. The result of current study indicate that neighboring Afghanistan and effects of smuggling drugs, terrorism and internal insecurities of this country are among the most important district barriers and lack of formulated planning and unfamiliarity with desert tourism attractions are the main barriers of developing desert tourism. Along with this, developing desert tourism will provide the opportunity to increase the consistent development level in this county.