A SPATIAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN CASPIAN HYRCANIAN MIXED FORESTS ECOREGION

Authors

  • ALI BALI Faculty of the Environment and Energy
  • SEYED MASOUD MONAVARI Faculty of the Environment and Energy
  • BORHAN RIAZI Faculty of the Environment and Energy
  • NEMATOLLAH KHORASANI Faculty of the Environment and Energy
  • MIR MASOUD KHEIRKHAH ZARKESH Faculty of the Environment and Energy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5380/bcg.v21i2.41947

Keywords:

Ecotourism, GIS, Decision Support System, AHP, Anzali Watershed

Abstract

Ecotourism, as a form of sustainable nature-based tourism, promotes conservation of ecological and scenic values. In this study, a Spatial Decision Support System, SDSS, was developed based upon Multi Criteria Evaluation, MCE, for ecotourism development in the Caspian Hyrcanian Mixed Forests ecoregion, northern Iran. For this, important criteria and
constraints for ecotourism development were shortlisted using the Delphi Method. The criteria were weighted using Analytical Hierarchy Process, AHP. The obtained results indicated that “distance from water resources”, “land use”, “slope”, “soil”, “climate”, “distance from roads”, “land cover density”, “erosion”, and “distance from residential areas” were the most important criteria, respectively. The findings suggest that GIS-based SDSS is
suitable to engage the various criteria affecting the development of ecotourism destinations. This empirical research develops a new method that can significantly facilitate planning forecotourism development with respect to ecological capability of ecotourism destinations.

Downloads

Published

2015-06-30

How to Cite

BALI, A., MONAVARI, S. M., RIAZI, B., KHORASANI, N., & KHEIRKHAH ZARKESH, M. M. (2015). A SPATIAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN CASPIAN HYRCANIAN MIXED FORESTS ECOREGION. Bulletin of Geodetic Sciences, 21(2). https://doi.org/10.5380/bcg.v21i2.41947

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 2 (2015)

Section

Article

License

Submission of an original manuscript to the Journal will be taken to mean that it represents original work  not previously published, that is not being considered elsewhere for publication.

The BCG allows the author(s) to hold the copyright without restrictions  and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

The BCG also allows the authors  to retain publishing rights without restrictions.