Geotourism
Mehdi Karami Dehkordi; Ghasem Layani
Abstract
The sampling method in the current research was purposeful, and using the snowball technique, 18 people were identified as experts in the field of ecotourism. In order to collect data, a researcher-made questionnaire was used (based on the conceptual framework of the research and the 5 subsections mentioned ...
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The sampling method in the current research was purposeful, and using the snowball technique, 18 people were identified as experts in the field of ecotourism. In order to collect data, a researcher-made questionnaire was used (based on the conceptual framework of the research and the 5 subsections mentioned about service quality) and SPSS, Expert Choice and GIS software were used for data analysis. The results of the Delphi section, which was conducted for the consensus of experts, indicated that the acceptance of tourism business owners in responding quickly to customer requests, providing prescribed services at the promised time, the necessary knowledge and awareness of employees to answer customer questions, paying attention to words The customer and establishing sincere communication and using the right equipment in providing services can be the most important priorities for providing high-quality services, also the findings showed that the cities of "Shahrkord, Ben and Saman" and "Borujen" respectively with weighted values of 0.336 and 0.274 The first and second priority ranks are in this field, and then Farsan, Kiar, Ardel, Kohrang, Khanmirza and Lordegan cities have been ranked; Finally, the results related to the interpolation section showed that the villages located in the east and northeast of the province have more talent in this field, and this share is less in the central and western areas of the province.
Geotourism
Maryam Bayati Khatibi; Nasrin Ghadimian
Abstract
Tabriz city in East Azarbaijan province also has a high potential in terms of having natural attractions and suitable climatic conditions. In this research, in order to evaluate the suitability of a suitable ecotourism location using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and using the method (OWa) and ...
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Tabriz city in East Azarbaijan province also has a high potential in terms of having natural attractions and suitable climatic conditions. In this research, in order to evaluate the suitability of a suitable ecotourism location using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and using the method (OWa) and Geographical Information System (GIS) were first examined according to the situation of the study area and the opinions of nature tourism experts and the evaluation of effective options in evaluating the spatial suitability of ecotourism development and all the options were converted into information layers and finally Using the AHP FUZZY technique with the OWA method in the GIS environment with the combination of 16 layers of information, the spatial compatibility map of the ecotourism development of the study area was prepared. Based on the results obtained from the spatial suitability map of ecotourism development in the study area, 52493.8 hectares or in other words 23.48% of the area is at a very favorable level, 50017.8 hectares or 22.38% of the study area is favorable and 1 51709/ or in other words 23/13 is at the average level. Also, the results of this research showed that the most unsuitable areas for the development of ecotourism include 24659.3 or in other words 11.03% of the entire area. The central region of Tabriz has a high potential for ecotourism. This area is in a very favorable condition in terms of research criteria. Thus, in terms of the most important criteria, i.e. distance from natural landscapes, distance from historical, religious and ancient attractions, and distance from facilities and services, due to its proximity to neighboring cities, including Tabriz itself, as the capital of the province, it has a good status compared to other parts of Tabriz city.
Geotourism
Hossain Hamedpour Darabi; Marzieh Rezaei; Mohammad Akbarian
Abstract
Population increase, urban sprawl and marginalization, demands entertainment, sightseeing, and the use of recreation spaces around cities. Afforestation canopy within the vicinity, in addition to the environmental benefits, can also meet part of the city dweller’s recreation needs. Therefore, the ...
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Population increase, urban sprawl and marginalization, demands entertainment, sightseeing, and the use of recreation spaces around cities. Afforestation canopy within the vicinity, in addition to the environmental benefits, can also meet part of the city dweller’s recreation needs. Therefore, the present study tries to identify the criteria and indicators for the designing of forest landscapes in the Southern Iran’s Sahara-Sindhi habitat and introduce them for ecotourism use. This research is based on reviewing previous research, questionnaires and using the Delphi method. Said questionnaires contain the following criteria: ecology, economics, social and infrastructure, that was compiled by the researchers and presented to a group of 15 respondents. Ecology’s criteria, with four sub-criteria and 25 indicators; Economics criteria, with two sub-criteria and 10 indicators; Social’s criterion with two sub-criteria and nine indicators and Infrastructure criterion with two sub-criteria and 27 indicators. Applying opinions from our panel of experts and calculating average scores, four criteria, 9 sub-criteria and 62 indicators were identified as " ecotourism-based afforestation designing for Southern Iran’s Sahara-Sindhi habitat". The results show that social, economic, ecological and infrastructural criteria are prioritized with scores of 35.1,35.0, 33.1 and 30.1, respectively. Based on the slight difference in social and economic criteria, it can be said that in designing such ecotourism destinations, local awareness, well-being, income, livelihood of local communities, efficiency of ecotourism and investment in the region are the most important aspects and should be prioritized, considering that the represented criteria all have very little difference in scores. Therefore, we could announce that all mentioned criteria are important and according to the respondents, they should be taken into consideration for afforestation designing.
Geotourism
asadollah hejazi; Mohammad Hossein Rezaei Moghaddam; zahra ghasemizadgonbad
Abstract
Introduction Ecotourism is one of the common types of tourism activities that has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. The ecotourism concept is based on the ideals of environmental protection and sustainable development and refers to a responsible journey to nature with an emphasis on ...
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Introduction Ecotourism is one of the common types of tourism activities that has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. The ecotourism concept is based on the ideals of environmental protection and sustainable development and refers to a responsible journey to nature with an emphasis on ensuring the improvement of local community life and environmental protection (Seifi and Janbaz, 2017: 479). Ecotourism has a deep connection with sustainable development, which stems from the interactions between tourists and the environment. Proper planning and management in order to develop ecotourism are essential to preserve and maintain the environmental richness of the region as well as the economic improvement of local people (Bunruamkaew and Murayama, 2011: 269). Iran is one of the countries that have a lot of potential for ecotourism development, however, studies show that Iran's natural tourism assets are vast array of scattered, unstabilized resources, and in some cases are on the verge of extinction. The main object of the current paper is to assess the ecotourism potentials and capabilities of the Margavar rural district of Urmia County in northwest of Iran. For this purpose, Analytic Network Process (ANP) and Fuzzy method have been used and ecotourism capabilities zoning map of the study area has been produced. Data and Method The current research is a Multicriteria-based study and the Analytic network process (ANP) method and Geographical Information System (GIS) has been used to analyse the data. Spatial criteria were clustered based on reviewing the background into five main groups including climate, human, topography, geology, and tourism and criteria have divided into these 5 groups. At first, the criteria map was prepared in the ArcGIS environment, then all the maps were reclassified with the Reclassify function. In the next step, the criteria maps are standardized with a Fuzzy linear function and the ANP model was run in Super Decisions software, and pairwise comparisons and related super matrices were calculated for the criteria and the relative weight of each criterion was obtained and the resulting weights were applied to maps. Finally, the weighted maps were combined each other using the 0.9 fuzzy gamma operator, and the Fuzzy ecotourism capability zoning map was produced in value 0 to 1. Results and Discussion After designing the network structure, matrices and related super-matrices were calculated and the relative weights of all criteria were determined. Results showed that temperature, geological structure, slope, rain, and tourism facilities have the most importance and weight in relation to the ecotourism ability of the study area, respectively. According to the ecotourism capabilities zoning map, the study area was divided into four class: completely suitable, relatively suitable, relatively unsuitable, and completely unsuitable. The resulting map analysis shows that areas located in the central and western parts of the region, which have a low slope percentage and also include rich pastures and natural tourist attractions, are in the completely suitable group. Furthermore, some parts of the study area have mountain slopes and difficult topographic conditions that are very difficult to access grouped in completely unsuitable lands for ecotourism activities. The final results of the study show that 14.50% of the study area is in the completely suitable class, 26.32% in the relatively suitable class, 27% in the relatively unsuitable class and 32.15% are in the completely unsuitable class Conclusion Research evaluations show that In general, Margavar rural district, both in terms of potential for the future development of ecotourism and in terms of Its current situation has a lot of potential in this regard in terms of receiving a large number of tourists That comprehensive planning and formulation of effective solutions in this field can be considered an effective way and an important step to achieve sustainable regional development. Application of multi-criteria analysis techniques such as ANP model and Fuzzy model in this research indicates the great flexibility of these methods, which makes it possible to determine different scenarios and combine different criteria with each other. On the other hand, the use of GIS has provided a good platform for feasibility studies, assessment, and identification of the natural environment. Therefore, it can be said that due to the high potential of the Margavar rural district, there is a need to review measures and pay more attention to tourism development plans and studies in this region.
GIS&RS
Leila Dehghani Firoozabadi; Alireza Ildoromi; Mir Mehrdad Mirsanjari; sahar abedian
Abstract
IntroductionToday, tourism is considered as one of the most important activities in the world, and it has high potential in generating foreign currency incomes and creating jobs. According to the definition, ecotourism is a responsibly journey to natural areas that protect the environment and improve ...
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IntroductionToday, tourism is considered as one of the most important activities in the world, and it has high potential in generating foreign currency incomes and creating jobs. According to the definition, ecotourism is a responsibly journey to natural areas that protect the environment and improve the lives of local people. Despite having the necessary potential in tourism in Iran, it has not succeeded in attracting tourists. The first step towards achieving tourism development in the country is identifying, assessing, and introducing the existent potentials and capabilities to provide development opportunities with comprehensive knowledge and planning. Dorud is one of the unparalleled regions in Lorestan province due to the availability of sufficient water resources that can be a good place for water resource recreation. Unfortunately, despite these tourist attractions, there has not yet been an organized approach to land use planning that takes into account these natural talents of the region for water tourism. According to the mentioned issues, the present study intends to use a multi-criteria evaluation to identify and zonate suitable areas of water tourism, and its purpose is to properly plan the tourism with environmental considerations and prioritize these areas in the Dorud city.Materials and methodsDorud is situated in Lorestan Province. It is located between latitudes 33°16'-33°44'N and longitudes 48°47'-49°19'. In this study, by investigating the factors influencing the zoning of tourism-prone areas, Dorud region has been zoned based on multi-criteria evaluation model. Multi-criteria evaluation is a structured process for defining goals, formulating criteria, evaluating, and solving decision problems. In this study, the criteria was detemined based on the criteria of the ecotourism national document, the criteria of the ecological potential assessment, and the ecotourism criteria in the protected areas. After the preparation of the criteria maps, it is necessary to standardize the maps that have different ranges and scales. In this research, Fuzzy and Boolean methods were used to standard the scales. In order to fuzzy the criteria maps, the pixels are ranked based on the membership degree in the fuzzy range from 0 to 255, and high degree of membership indicate more desirability of pixels for tourism. In the Boolean method, zero values are inappropriate areas, and values of one indicate suitable areas for development. In order to weigh the criteria, the pairwise comparison method was used in the form of analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and then the maps were combined using the weighted linear combination method. Then, in order to prepare the final suitable map, it is necessary to extract the zones, which have 70% suitability and have more than 5 hectares. Finally, suitable zones for recreation prioritized by TOPSIS model.Result and discussionIn this research, the effective environmental criteria were considered as informational layers in water recreation zoning. Criteria were taken with two views: one for water recreation in lotic water resources, and the other on flowing water resources. The effective environmental criteria in water recreation zoning classified in 5 criterion groups involved physical, ecological, fundamental, safety, and social-economic and 27 sub criterion for water recreation in Lotic water resources, and 26 sub criterion for water recreation in lentic water resources. At this step, due to the difference in the type of tourism recreation in lotic and flowing water resources, two types of utility maps for the flowing water resources (waterfall and rivers) and the latic water recources (mineral fountain, dam, water reservoirs, sarab, lakes and wetlands) were prepared. Then, in order to zoning the area, the final raster layer was classified into four categories based on the suitability of the land. Thus, the first categort with high potential (the suitability of more than 150), the second category with the average potential (the suitability of 110 to 150), the third category with the weak potential (the suitability of 50 to 110), and the forth category without suitability (0 to 50) were considered. In the next step, the first category was considered as the best class for the water recreation, and extracted from the suitable map. Based on the performed classification, 8.47% of the area has high potential for recreation in flowing water resources, and 10.28% of the area has high potential for recreation in latic water resources. Finally, six suitable zones in each of the recreations were selected, and tourism zones were prioritized according to the TOPSIS method.ConclusionThe results of criteria weighting for latic water resources showed that distance from lake, wetland, sarab, dam and water reservoirs are the most important criteria in suitable recreation areas. In addition, the results of the combination of AHP and TOPSIS in water resources showed that the slope and depth with a weight of 0.182 and, 0.173, respectively are the most important indicators in this model, respectively. Consequently, results showed that Merok dam, Mahi hamyane Sarab and pond, Heshamatabad 2 pond zones respectively have highest preferences for water recreation in lotic water resources. In relation to the tourism recreation in flowing water resources, weighting criteria shows that distance from the river, slope and height are the most important. In addition, the results of the AHP and TOPSIS combination in flowing water resources show that the slope, water speed, and water volume with a weight of 0.191, 0.171, and 0.140 are three important indicators in this model, respectively. As a result, Sezar River, Gaharrood 1 and Gaharrood 2 have highest preferences for water recreation flowing water resources. The proposed zones in this research were determined based on ecological and socio-economic criteria that indicate the high capability of the zones for this type of recreation. Of course, in order to implement tourism goals, further studies are needed in areas such as determining the ecological capacity of the region, soil erodibility and so on.
Geomorphology
Seyyed Asadallah Hejazi; Masoumeh Rajabi; Asma Sharbaf Behtash
Abstract
Introduction Tourism is one of the activities that demand for it is increasing. Tourism as a non-smoking industry, has less destructive environmental impacts but for some, tourism is an important threat to cultural and biological diversity. This idea caused the concept of sustainable tourism development ...
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Introduction Tourism is one of the activities that demand for it is increasing. Tourism as a non-smoking industry, has less destructive environmental impacts but for some, tourism is an important threat to cultural and biological diversity. This idea caused the concept of sustainable tourism development and the forms of alternative tourism to be raised. For this reason, the development of ecotourism as a form of alternative tourism is essential for achieving the goals of sustainable tourism development. Identifying and planning the suitable ecotourism areas as an effective tool and solution can play an essential role in sustainable tourism development. Although Iran has a variety of natural attractions, but it hasn't been able to make good use of this advantage. One of the most suitable ecotourism areas in Iran and East Azerbaijan Province is the Northern Slopes of Bozghoush Mountains. This area has a lot of natural attractions such as high peaks, numerous hot springs and green spaces which can be a destination for hiking, adventure tourism, ski, water therapy and leisure activities. In spite of such attractions, none of these activities is known in the real sense; on the other hand, comprehensive planning has not been done in this area. Although several tourists go to the northern slopes of Bozghoush Mountain in spring and summer but there isn't any suitable infrastructures in this area. This indicates the necessity of investigating in this region and the main thing for encouraging investors is identifying, prioritizing and informing them. Such actions lie in the context of scientific research. So far, several studies has been done on geomorphology and geology of this region but there hasn't been any study to identify suitable ecotourism areas. The present study has aimed to reach this goal. The goal of this study is identifying the ecotourism capabilities of the northern slopes of Bozghoush Mountain using Vikor technique in order to identify the most suitable areas for ecotourism activities. Methodology The research method of this study is descriptive-analytical and in terms of purpose, it is practical. In order to achieve the research goals, the most important criteria of site selection for mountaineering, hiking and ski was identified by library research and expert survey, and then the weight of each criteria was determined by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). In the following, in order to integrate layers in ArcGIS, VIKOR method has been used. To determine the final weight of the criteria, a questionnaire was designed and it has been filled by 30 experts. The experts were familiar with both the AHP method and the features of study area. Five questionnaire were corrupted and 25 of them were valid. The hierarchy structure was formed in the Expert Choice. Then the data obtained from questionnaire which was a pairwise comparison, was added to the software. In the following, in order to integrate layers in ArcGIS, VIKOR method has been used. Finally, by overlaying the maps of mountaineering, hiking and ski, the most suitable areas of ecotourism was determined. Conclusion The northern slopes of Bouzghoush Mountain located in East Azerbaijan Province have high ecotourism potential, which allows tourists to do activities such as mountaineering, hiking and ski. In the present study, in order to site selection and prioritize the ecotourism areas, the activities were divided into three types and evaluated by Vikor technique. Various criteria were selected by literature review and weighted in Expert choice using AHP method. Finally maps of mountaineering, hiking and ski were obtained and by overlaying the maps, the final map of suitable ecotourism areas was achieved. The results show that in terms of suitable site selection of ecotourism, 15.43 percent of area is in very suitable condition, 35.52 percent in suitable condition, 39.91 percent in average condition and 9.14 percent in unsuitable condition. The most suitable area covers the hot springs of Asbforoushan and Allah Hagh, as well as Jelda Bakhan and Ardeha villages. These sites tops the list of priorities for development.
Geotourism
Esmaeil Pishbahar; Rogaye Parcham; Hossin Yadavar
Abstract
This study was performed to investigate the influence of different types of tourism in Aras Free Zone (AFZ). The tool of this research is questioner that data were collected by simple random sampling from 70 tourists and it have been analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. The results ...
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This study was performed to investigate the influence of different types of tourism in Aras Free Zone (AFZ). The tool of this research is questioner that data were collected by simple random sampling from 70 tourists and it have been analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. The results indicate that there is the correlation between ecotourism and historical tourism. In the other words, an increase in historical tourism increases the ecotourism and vice versa. For increase, historical tourism must increase satisfaction of historical attractions of "Chopan churches", "Caravanserai of KhwajaNazar". For increase, the ecotourism must increase satisfaction of the natural attractions of the "Aras", "Mill Ruins", Villages Ashtbyn", "Plain Gordian" and "Plain Aynalo". The increase of satisfaction of tourists of village "Ashtbyn", satisfaction of tourists from "Holy Muhammad Agha" increases. The only factor affecting the on trade tourism is the satisfaction of variety of goods or in other words to increase the satisfaction of trade tourism must increase the variety of goods. Therefore, restoration of historic and religious buildings and development projects, business tourism, natural and historical and policies encouraging exports and imports in Aras Free Zone is proposed
Urban Planning
Hamid Alipor; hassan fathizad; Mohammad Akhvan Galibaph; Fanhime Arabei Ali Abad
Abstract
One of the main strategies to achieve the forestry objective and to minimize the environmental crisises, planning use of the forest by taking a natural ability is for users desired. In this research, using the Analytic Network Process (ANP), the criteria of ecological, economic and social, in the BOCR ...
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One of the main strategies to achieve the forestry objective and to minimize the environmental crisises, planning use of the forest by taking a natural ability is for users desired. In this research, using the Analytic Network Process (ANP), the criteria of ecological, economic and social, in the BOCR structure frame work in forest habitat of Jouzk-darekhsh (Northern Khorasan) were evaluated and prioritized. The results showed that the sub network of profits with a total weight of 0.55 is located in first priority and sub network of risks with total weight 0.07 in the last priority. In sub network of earnings, revenue increase was in the first priority and the first priorities of the risks sub network also was allocated public acceptance. Among the strategic criteria also social criteria were to assign high weight (0.49) and then economic criteria weighing 0.31 and ecological with weighting 0.19. Finally the results showed that ecotourism options with a total weight of o.62, protection with a total weight 0.19 and option exploitation of ancillary products with a total weight 0.18 respectively in the priority first, second and third. According to the results, the forest can be pushed to the client-side tourist undoubtedly made an impact in preventing the destruction of all the fields, employment and public participation, public participation and respect for the policies followed by the increase in the residents of the area, helping to prevent migration to urban areas and overall development of villages surrounding the forest area will be followed.
Asghar Zarrabi; Jabbar Alizadeh Asl; Esa Bahari
Volume 18, Issue 48 , June 2014, , Pages 177-210
Abstract
Ecotourism is a branch of tourism which could change natural potentials and cultural characteristics into actual resources. It is obvious that, without knowing potential and actual powers of each region, planning and prediction is deemed impossible. In the face of this fact, current research seeks to ...
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Ecotourism is a branch of tourism which could change natural potentials and cultural characteristics into actual resources. It is obvious that, without knowing potential and actual powers of each region, planning and prediction is deemed impossible. In the face of this fact, current research seeks to identify advantages, disadvantages, opportunities, threats and strategies of ecotourism development in BandVillage, Urmia. This research aims at introducing BandVillage as one of touristic regions of West Azerbaijan, investigating issues and problems in terms of tourism facilities and infrastructures and ecotourism potentials and suggesting strategies regarding tackling ecotourism obstacles. Dominant approach to this research is descriptive, causal and of applied nature. To collect data, questionnaires were used and the population consisted of tourists who traveled to Band in summer 1388. To analyze data, SPSS was employed and ArcGIS software was used to draw maps. The statistical technique used in the research was Pearson correlation. Also, to analyze ecotourism potentials, SWOT model was used in order to augment the advantages and opportunities and to decrease disadvantages and threats. The findings indicate that:
- The more advertisement, the higher the umber of arriving tourists. The result from this relationship was 41% and showed acceptable and middle toward high relationship.
- The more the facilities and services, the more the satisfaction of tourists. In Band, the relationship between satisfaction of tourists and facilities and services was 36% showing middle toward low relationship.
- The evaluation of this region by SWOT model shows 35 disadvantages and threats and 25 advantages and opportunities which require serious attention of managers and macro and coherent planning in order to change disadvantages and threats into advantages and opportunities regarding ecotourism development in the study region.
Masaoed Taghvaee; Hossin Kiumarsi
Volume 17, Issue 44 , September 2013, , Pages 47-71
Abstract
In today's modern and industrial world, tourism and taking advantage of natural attractions in original natural regions is more sensible. One of these natural attractions is beach and lake regions that attract many tourists all over the world. The Kaftar lake which has located in north of Fars province ...
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In today's modern and industrial world, tourism and taking advantage of natural attractions in original natural regions is more sensible. One of these natural attractions is beach and lake regions that attract many tourists all over the world. The Kaftar lake which has located in north of Fars province south of Eghlid has county is also one of these natural attractions, although many potentials regarding tourism industry, there has been no study to identify its potentials. The dominant approach in this research is developmental-applicable and research method is a combination of analytic, survey and causal method through using SWOT technique. We identify weaknesses, potentials, and the threats of tourism industry. The results from research show that the development of tourism in Kaftar lake has many setbacks that requires more attention of responsible and local people that is regarded as the approach to attract private and governmental investment from big cities around in order to foster hygiene-medical and accommodation infrastructures. Gaining a rate of 370 is regarded as the best approach of tourism development in Kaftar lake. At the end we provide the developmental approaches of KaftarLake in four immediate, short-term, middle-term, and long term phases.
Hosein Raheli; Rahim Heidari; Mohammad Khodaverdizadeh
Volume 17, Issue 44 , September 2013, , Pages 95-117
Abstract
After oil industry, tourism makes revenues as the second world’s economy for many countries. Tourism today not only has become the world's largest and most widespread industry, but one inseparable from the needs of mankind contemporary life. Protection of natural resources as a major ecotourism ...
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After oil industry, tourism makes revenues as the second world’s economy for many countries. Tourism today not only has become the world's largest and most widespread industry, but one inseparable from the needs of mankind contemporary life. Protection of natural resources as a major ecotourism capital faced challenges because most people think of the natural resources has free. Therefore, assessment of environmental resources and ecotourism areas for economic policy and strategic decisions should be considered important as the principles of tourism development. Asiabkharbe waterfall in Jolfa city being located in East Azerbaijan province is considered as one of the most attractive tourism destinations in regional level. Present paper attempts to determine and estimate the recreational value of this ecotourism attraction by using contingent valuation method (CVM) and reviews the factors affecting willingness to pay (WTP) by logit model. The results show that 68 percent of visitors are willing to paying for visiting this ecotourism destination and the amount proposed, education, income, satisfaction, family size, age and gender are the most important factors in WTP, and on the other hand, average willingness to pay per visitor is 4000 Rials and annual recreational value of this ecotourism attraction is 380,000,000 Rials. Planners should give more attention to develop tourism and enhance the welfare of visitors to the Asiyabkharabe waterfall, according to high value and importance of this waterfall.
