Future Study of Spiritual Tourism based on Cross Impact Matrix and Soft Systems Methodology

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is identifying influential factors on the future of spiritual tourism and formulation of plausible scenario for it. From philosophical point of view, this paper is pragmatic, exploratory from target's point of view and it's practical. It's a survey research in collecting data and its methodology is mixed. In this study, by studying the literature and interviewing with experts, the factors influencing the future of spiritual tourism were identified and then, using the Cross Impact analysis approach, the data was entered into the MIC MAC software and two key factors affecting the future of spiritual tourism in Qom province. It was found out that Facilitate versus Rigor and Culture policy which were selected among the eleven final effective factors. In the next step, four scenarios are presented in this study. These scenarios include Limited liberalism scenario, Liberal world Scenario, Negligence scenario and Authoritarian Spirituality scenario.