Isfahan as a destination for promoting historical nostalgia tourism with an emphasis on World War II memories

ABSTRACT

World War II lasted from 1939 to1945 and affected most of the world, creating memories for places and people everywhere. This research focuses on Isfahan, Iran, as a case study comprising World War II memories with an emphasis on Polish children. This research has three major purposes: (1) to ascertain the attraction of historical nostalgia tourism with an emphasis on the footprint of Polish children; (2) to consider the activities and strategies which can promote nostalgia tourism in Isfahan and (3) to measure tourists’ tendency towards visiting attractions based around Polish refugees in the study area. The results demonstrate that Isfahan has some monuments and trails which include Polish children’s memories and can be regarded as tourist attractions for this niche tourism. Moreover, the results recommend organizing thematic tours regarding Poland and Isfahan and training tour leaders in this regard. Integrating historical nostalgia tourism with other niche tourism, organizing events and scientific meetings, boosting marketing and advertising regarding historical nostalgia tourism and policymaking for promoting historical nostalgia tourism in Isfahan are strategies and activities which can promote this type of tourism in Isfahan. Furthermore, our results illustrate that tourists are interested in attractions based around Polish refugees.

KEYWORDS:

• Isfahan
• nostalgia tourism
• Poland
• Polish children
• World War II

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zahra Shiran

Zahra Shiran ([email protected]) is a Master’s Student in Tourism at Art University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

Neda Torabi Farsani

Neda Torabi Farsani ([email protected]; [email protected]) is Associate professor in Tourism, Art University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran. She received her PhD degree in Tourism in 2012 from the University of Aveiro, Portugal. She has also some papers in the fields of tourism published in international conferences and journals. She has been involved in writing several book chapters and she is the editor of the book entitled: Geoparks and Geotourism: New Approaches to Sustainability for the twenty-first Century. Her research interests are geotourism, niche tourism, and cultural tourism.

Mohammad Ali Rajaie Rizi

Mohammad Ali Rajaie Rizi ([email protected]) Member of Iranian Geographic Society and lecturer at Department of Museum and Tourism; Art University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran