Tourism is the world’s largest industry and it was projected to be the world’s largest employer by the year 2000. This research will evaluate Iran’s potential in the tourism industry and especially cultural tourism development and tries to compare it with Turkey because of their regional proximities and similarities in culture, attractions, and religion. Scientific research shows that increasing international tourism arrivals is a way to generate more revenue than oil and development of cultural tourism is an alternative to oil based economy. The main goals of this research are: 1- evaluation of accelerating factors in cultural tourism development both in Iran and Turkey 2- evaluation of decelerating factors in cultural tourism both in Iran and Turkey.