Strategic Status of Sport Tourism in the Rural Areas of Northern Khorasan Province (Iran)

In this descriptive-analytical method of study the aim was to find out the strategic status of sport tourism in the rural areas of northern Khorasan province (Iran). The statistical population of this research consists of all tourism experts of the cultural heritage and handicrafts organization, the heads of local sport boards, sports management specialists and travel agency directors that make up 110 participants. In order to increase the internal validity of the research, the statistical sample was the same as the statistical population. The data was collected by a questionnaire based on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats points in four dimensions of economic, cultural- social- bio environmental and structural in sport tourism status in the rural areas of north Khorasan province from above mentioned experts perspective. After confirming the validity of the questionnaire with the help of professors and experts and verifying the reliability of the questionnaire through Cronbach s test with the reliability coefficient of 0.86, these questionnaires were distributed among the statistical population of the study. According to the SWOT matrix, the general result of the study shows that, according to the above matrix and the average result, it is clear that the status of sports tourism in the rural areas of North Khorasan is more elongated at the SO position and is closer to offensive–competitive strategy.