ABSTRACT

Ethnic tourism is one of the tourism study fields, which mostly focus on ethnic minorities. However, less attention has been paid to ethnic tourism as a journey in which ethnicity, genealogy, ancestry, race, and heritage are its most important motivating factors. The purpose of this study was to describe the ethno-nationalistic identity of Iranian Kurdish tourists who had the experience of traveling to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Moreover, it is necessary to understand how the recent changes of KRI affect the feelings of Iranian Kurdish tourists about the environment or conditions in which they live. A qualitative methodology was used to understand ethno-nationalism with reference to the perspectives of Iranian Kurdish tourists. In this study, qualitative data was collected through 17 semi-structured interviews with Iranian Kurds who had the experience of traveling to KRI. Research findings demonstrated that the experiences of Iranian Kurdish tourists could be categorized into three main themes, including perceived social distance, the Kurdish ethnic identity convergence, and the divergence from Iranian national identity. This study added new insights to the existing literature on ethnic tourism.

摘要

民族旅游是旅游研究领域之一，多以少数民族为研究对象。然而，民族旅游作为一种以民族、谱系、血统、种族和遗产为最重要推动因素的旅程，却很少受到关注。本研究的目的是描述曾前往伊拉克库尔德斯坦地区 (KRI) 旅行的伊朗库尔德游客的民族主义身份。此外，有必要了解 KRI 最近的变化如何影响伊朗库尔德游客对他们居住的环境或条件的感受。参考伊朗库尔德游客的观点，使用定性方法来理解民族主义。在这项研究中，定性数据是通过对有前往 KRI 旅行经验的伊朗库尔德人进行的 17 次半结构化访谈收集的。研究结果表明，伊朗库尔德游客的体验可以分为三个主要主题，包括感知社会距离、库尔德民族认同融合以及与伊朗民族认同的分歧。这项研究为现有的民族旅游文献增添了新的见解。