Tourism, as a transnational practice with political, economic, social, and moral consequences, moves beyond the priorities and motivations of general travel (Antonio, 1403: 14).  That’s becuase, on the one hand, politics and political change affect how tourism develops in a destination and, on the other, tourism has political consequences that are international and/or domestic in scope (Hall, 2010).
Therefore, the study of tourism as a political and social activity in international studies places it at the center of international relations (Antonio, 1403: 15).
Some sanctions can lead to restrictions on transnational mobility and on international investments in the tourism and hospitality industries (Farmaki, et al., 2015; Ivanov et al., 2017). The implications of sanctions are that the sanctioned country may be forced into acute financial and political dependency on ‘friendly nations’ (Alipour & Kilic, 2005), which further restricts its capacity to normalize political relations with sanctioning countries while also reinforcing certain images of the country in its politics.
Tourism is directly and indirectly affected by sanctions. Indirect effects usually arise from actions that impact firms in the tourism supply chain, e.g., the availability of spare parts for passenger planes, or from financial actions that affect the capacity to use US dollars or to attract investments for projects (Seyfi & Hall, 2019).
Iran possesses significant tourism potential, yet its tourism industry has been severely impacted by political factors and international sanctions following events such as the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War (Butler & Suntikul, 2017; Hall, 2005). Sanctions have restricted foreign investment and financial transactions, creating a perception of insecurity (Pratt & Alizadeh, 2018; Seyfi & Hall, 2018). This research aims to explore the economic effects of these sanctions on Iran's tourism sector.