Assessing and evaluating the tourism potential of Birjand city

Extended Abstract
Introduction
Iran is considered as one of the most important tourism hubs in the world. Iran can be located in a suitable position of tourist attractions in Asia and the international level due to some features which include a long-standing history in civilization and culture, nature and various climatic conditions, and other features such as numerous sanctuaries. This study aimed to evaluate the capacity and potential of tourism within the Birjand County. The research method is descriptive-analytical using Reynard, Pereira, Vikor, Coopras, and Kapland techniques. The current study examines the potential of urban tourism to consider the performance management of Birjand County concerning the sustainable development of urban tourism through these variables. It also seeks to provide practical approaches to improve the current situation using sustainable development. The purpose is focused on evaluating the potential of urban tourism within Birjand County. The findings can assist the urban managers to enhance the level of sustainable development of urban tourism and increase local satisfaction as well as the satisfaction of tourists with the least environmental damages.
 
Methodology
The research method is descriptive-analytical. Information gathering has been done using the desk – field, and documentary based methods. Reynard, Pereira, Kapland, Coopras, and Vikor techniques have been used for data analysis; so that Reynard and Pereira methods have been used to examine the tourism parameters, and after summing up the results, the city has been leveled and ranked based on the potentials and capabilities of tourism using multiple attribute decision-making models, such as Kapland, Coopras, and Vikor techniques.
 
Results and discussion
According to the geographical location and the placement of various natural and human attractions in Birjand County to attract domestic and foreign tourism, this county is one of the important tourist sites within Iran and the southeastern region of the country. Therefore, this study is designed based on the triple bottom line approaches of imaginary effects (economic, socio-cultural, and environmental). The results obtained from the Reynard method can be classified into three main sections: “The number of historical monuments” parameter with 2.8 points from the total maximum final point. It has achieved the highest scores among all the sites. Also, this site has the highest score in most of the assaying among other parameters; so that it was selected as the best parameter with the highest score in terms of various assays. “Determination of the borders of the registered monuments” parameter in scientific values ​​with 2 points and “the number of historical and natural monuments” in complementary values ​​with 1.9 points, place in the second and third positions, respectively. The results obtained using the Pereira method to examine the tourism capabilities of Birjand County indicate that these two parameters have a significant difference with others in terms of numbers. Therefore, they have obtained a high score which includes “the number of registered historical and natural monuments” with 13.37 points and “determination of the borders of the registered monuments” with 11.08 points which is considered as the highest point among all the sites. In the second position, “the number of historical and natural monuments” indicates the obtained score on this site. In comparison with the previous parameter, this will be less severely exposed to changes resulting from tourism development. Generally, the studied parameters have lower points in terms of scoring. This indicates the necessity of fundamental evaluation of the capacities within these sites concerning tourism planning and development. We have achieved the ranking level of development in the tourism sector of Birjand County through the combination of rankings obtained from Kapland, Coopras, and Vikor models. These investigations indicate that in Birjand County, Birjand City is the central city, and also Khusf, and Mohammad Shahr are in extra-development, development, and lower-development conditions in terms of tourism potential.
 
Conclusion
The current study examines the tourism capabilities of Birjand County in terms of sustainable tourism development. It also considers the performance management of Birjand County concerning the sustainable development of urban tourism through these variables and provides some practical approaches to improve the current situation using the development of the county. The results from combining Reynard and Pereira tourism models indicate that “the number of historical monuments”, “determination of the border of historical monuments”, and “the number of historical and natural monuments” parameters with 13.37, 11.08, and 9.04 points have the highest scores among all the sites which have obtained the maximum score of tourism capabilities from 20 points using this method. Therefore, in comparison to other studied sites, this parameter has a high potential to attract tourists in terms of scientific values ​​and complementary values. The implementation of sustainable spatial planning through educational programs, entertainment, etc. can lead to poverty reduction and job creation in the scope of attracting tourists and increasing tourism tours in desert areas, in particular for the residents of Birjand County. We have achieved the ranking level of development in the tourism sector of Birjand County through the combination of rankings obtained from Kapland, Coopras, and Vikor models. These investigations indicate that in Birjand County, Birjand City is the central city, and Khusf and Mohammad Shahr are in extra-development, development, and lower-development conditions in terms of tourism potential.