A GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Evaluation to Ecotourism Suitability Site Selection in Arasbaran Protected Area, Iran

Abstract

Today, ecotourism is a major tourist activity around the world. Arasbaran protected area as a mountainous area in northwest of Iran has high potential for attracting eco-tourists due to its natural pristine nature and biodiversity. This study developed a spatial method for evaluation of ecotourism potential using geographic information systems (GIS). First, the effective criteria were chosen according to the previous studies. Standardization of the criteria was conducted using suitable fuzzy functions and the weights of the criteria were derived through the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). In the next step, criteria were combined using Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) method to reveal the suitability of ecotourism. Eventually, for land zoning according to ecotourism value, the module of Zonal Land Suitability (ZLS) was applied and around 37 zones were introduced for ecotourism at the study area. The result of this study showed that the most suitable ecotourism area of Arasbaran protected area is 6.45 percent (5200.62 ha) with attention to pixel with suitability more than 200. Overall, the results revealed that MCE method is capable of evaluation of Arasbaran protected area for ecotourism. Also, the geographical information system was found a useful tool, allowing combination of many criteria and Boolean layers.