01827nas a2200241   4500000000100000000000100001008004100002653002400043653000900067653001700076653002400093653002100117653002500138100001700163700002000180700002100200245008500221856015400306300001000460490000700470520108800477022002001565                                       d10aEducational tourism10aIran10aFood Tourism10aintangible heritage10amedicinal plants10atraditional medicine1 aNeda Farsani1 aHossein Zeinali1 aMaedeh Moaiednia00aFood heritage and promoting herbal medicine-based niche tourism in Isfahan, Iran  uhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85000814825&doi=10.1080%2f1743873X.2016.1263307&partnerID=40&md5=0311f635cae7f186ab1cf9137b954c92  a77-870 v133 aThe dynamic and competitive nature of tourism means that surviving commercially may require the emergence of niche tourism. This paper presents a niche tourism sector that emphasizes medicinal plants: herbal medicine-based tourism. This research has two major purposes: to investigate innovation and strategies for promoting herbal-medicine-based tourism and to demonstrate strategies for integrating tourism and medicinal plants for the purpose of education and knowledge transfer. This study was conducted in Isfahan, Iran. The results show that strategies (such as outdoor activities and tourist workshops in herbal medicine parks/farms or in the plants’ natural habitats; training tour guides who are familiar with botany and medicinal plants; and the integration of traditional medicine and tourism to emphasize the therapeutic properties of medical plants) can play a central role in tourism based upon learning about and consuming traditional medicinal herbs. The innovative strategies for promoting this specialized form of tourism are classified into five main categories.  a1743873X (ISSN)