02275nas a2200133   4500000000100000008004100001100002000042700001600062700001800078245004000096490000700136520198400143020001402127                                       d1 aAntonia Correia1 aMetin Kozak1 aAna Rodrigues00aSociocultural Contexts Introduction0 v103 aThis book was sourced in an international conference held in 2016 in Isfahan, Iran, where the lead editor of this volume and the chief editor of Bridging Tourism Theory and Practice were present. During the conference, the idea of a publication on the historical development as well as the current position of the Iranian tourism industry was discussed and some months later the idea started taking shape. Some chapters of this book were originally presented at the Isfahan conference; the rest were recruited from and submitted by those in the know from all over the world. The authors commissioned were not only from Iran but also those not originally and culturally from this part of the world. The national scholars expanded their network to work together with their colleagues internationally. The chapters’ authors are from Ecuador, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This contribution can be regarded as a representative example of collaboration between insiders (Iranians) and outsiders (non-Iranians) to produce Experiencing Persian Heritage: Perspectives and Challenges. Structured in five parts, this book compiles 17 chapters to further the understanding of tourism and hospitality issues based on Iran as a destination, and it reinforces the challenges the country will be facing to leverage its tourism development. The chapters, developed around conceptual and empirical research, can be considered as a starting point for the creation and management of natural and endowed resources – the bases of tourism development. As such, this book analyzes new perspectives and challenges for this development in Iran and countries with similar backgrounds, with the objective of contributing to the presently limited knowledge base, improving policymaking in this respect, and increasing the visibility of Iranian academics doing research on tourism and hospitality all over the world.  a2042-1443