Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• 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 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.

Highlights

The results of the investigations show that Tabriz city has a lot of potential for the development of ecotourism due to the presence of natural attractions. The results of the zoning of the spatial suitability of the development of ecotourism in the studied area using the hierarchical analysis process show that 52493 hectares (23.48%) of This city is located in a very favorable area and 50,017 hectares (22.38%) is located in a favorable area; As a result, 102,510 hectares, i.e., 45.86% of the city's area, are in the prone area for the development of ecotourism, and the above hypothesis is also confirmed. The central region of Tabriz, with an area of about 5249 hectares, 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. ; In terms of the distance from the communication routes, this area is susceptible due to the location of the railway intersection and the road density around the city of Tabriz as the most important city and the center of the province. It is also worth mentioning the existence of Tabriz airport. In terms of land use, this area has a lot of potential in terms of being located in the immediate area of the central cities of the province; In terms of distance from water sources (rivers, wells and aqueducts), the entire city is in a good condition. In terms of distance from electricity transmission lines, the most access is in the center of the city and in the area of Doshan. In terms of vegetation coverage, this area is mostly located between medium mountain pastures in the east of the region and water agricultural lands, which has created a very unique ecosystem. Also, although the criteria of rainfall, air temperature, soil erodibility, slope direction, slope, height and distance from the fault have a low score in zoning, but the zone prone to nature tourism has a favorable situation.Since the city of Tabriz has an ecological power and a high concentration of ecotourism resources in different places, it has a good potential for the development of ecotourism. Aun Bin Ali Heights, Peke Chin Mountains, Bahlul Daghi, Sahand, Liqwan Valley, Sardroud Valley, Mamed Dareh Si, Esti Sou Mineral Water Spring (Liqwan), El Goli Artificial Lake, Shahid Madani Dam, Nahand Dam, Malek Kian Dam, Airport Forests Tabriz, afforestation of the Rajai hills of the city, etc. shows the high potential of the city in this field, so it can be said that the city of Tabriz has a high power and potential for the development of ecotourism.

Keywords

• ecotourism
• spatial correlation
• multi-criteria evaluation
• OWA
• AHP
• Tabriz city

Main Subjects

• Geotourism