Trompe l’œil: an approach to promoting art tourism (case study: Shiraz city, Iran)

Trompe l’oeil as a novel art technique can not only promote art tourism but can also transform the landscape of a city into a platform for negotiation. Furthermore, trompe l’oeil aims to create a joyful, entertaining, new experience and an interactive environment for tourists in the cities. This paper highlights the introduction of trompe l’oeil as a new tourist attraction in Shiraz (Iran). Moreover, the goals of this study are to explore the role of trompe l’oeil (three-dimensional [3D] street painting) in promoting art tourism, to investigate the tendency of tourists toward experiencing art tours and trompe l’oeil and to determine the priority of trompe l’oeil themes from the domestic tourists’ perspective.,Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this research study.,On the basis of the results of this study, it can be concluded that domestic tourists are eager to experience art tours and trompe l’oeil attractions and activities, except for buying and wearing 3D-printed clothes. In addition, trompe l’oeil on street floors and walls with funny, joyful and cultural-artistic and national-historical themes is more attractive for them.,No significant academic work has been undertaken in the field of art tourism to evaluate the attitude of tourists toward the trompe l’oeil attractions and activities.