Demographic characteristics of the participants.

Sports tours are a key category of tourism with special interest whose evolution and development are influenced by a variety of limiters and facilitators. Research literature recommends exploring these factors. Therefore, our goal was to present a grounded theory about the development of sports tours in Iran’s tourism industry. For this purpose, we considered Glaser’s approach and conducted 15 interviews with experts in the field of tourism and sports tours who worked under the supervision of the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Heritage of Iran. The data were analyzed using the Glaser’s approach principles. The developed theory from this study showed that the development of sports tours is an structure that stops moving under the influence of inhibitors such as financial, political, security, structural, and organizational issues, and travels the path of perfection and progress through facilitators such as natural attractions, the role of the media, the role of tour guides, the quality of services, information technology, support, culture, and training, and the human force. Based on this result, it can be said that the development and evolution of sports tours in Iran are influenced by various determinants, and it is important to remove the limiting factors and strengthen the factors that play a facilitating role in the development of sports tours.