Feasibility Study of Creating Audio Tourism with Emphasis on Urban Sounds

Abstract

Historical, cultural and environmental attractions absorb investments in tourism industry in certain regions. The tourism industry has always been based on visual attractions. This article, however, tries to study the feasibility of audio attractions in absorption of investment in tourism industry. The question is whether sounds can attract tourists to a particular region? Music and different musical instruments in various regions may well have this potential. Besides, would it be possible to attract tourists to a region through environmental and peripheral sound effects? Is it possible to relate a specific sound to a definite region to be known as its attribute? Creating audio tourism can only be done through the historical, social and cultural backgrounds of a city. The case study on three cities of Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan demonstrates that audio tourism can not only help tourism industry grow but is also rich enough to be considered as a separate subject matter. Audio parameters can be used in tourism industry for advertising in different multimedia including in travel agencies and museums as well as in souvenir and gift shops. This article elaborates how these sounds can be applied to individual cities and in what ways audio tourism may develop.