Nature based susceptibility assessment using GIS spatial decision-making systems in West Azerbaijan Provinces

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD student, Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, University of Tabriz

2 Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Management, University of Tabriz

3 Associated professor, Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, University of Tabriz

4 M.Sc. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Semnan, Semnan, Iran

Abstract

We amid to identify and introduce nature-based tourism and its potentiality in West Azerbaijan province. The study area is famous for its environmental and natural landscapes which accordingly implies significant potentials for developing sustainable ecotourism which accordingly leads to improve the economic situation of this province as well. Within this research we applied GIS spatial decision support systems (SDSS) for data analysis and modelling the sustainable ecotourism in west Azerbaijan province. For this goal, 28 relevant criteria from different resources (e.g. physical properties, infrastructure, and facilities) were identified and processed using GIS-SDSS. GIS data aggregation method was applied to develop a final susceptibility map. Results indicated that about 57% of the study area represent a sustainability degree of moderate to significant for ecotourism development. The rest of 43 % basically locates in urban area, deserts resulted by Urmia lake drought which are not indicating a significance potential for ecotourism development. It has also to be highlighted in context of the 57 % there are also different level of sustainability in each area but results shows that ecotourism can be considered as one the main economic development in the study area. We conclude that, the obtained results are very important and critical for identifying nature-based tourism potential assessment. The results of this study provided valuable information for improving the situation as well organizing the sustainable ecotourism in the study area. Results are also great of important for decision makers and planners in light of developing a sustainable natural tourism.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  • صدری فرد افسانه؛ جلال آبادی لیلا؛ کریمیان پور فاطمه؛ زینی ستایش. (1396). تحلیل و ارزیابی سطوح توسعه یافتگی شهرستانهای استان خراسان شمالی با استفاده از مدل TOPSIS. فصلنامه جغرافیا ( برنامه ریزی منطقه ای), 7(2), 321-330.
  • تکیه‌خواه جاهده؛ نجفی اکبر؛ اصغری آزاد. (1394). تدوین استراتژی توسعة طبیعت‏ گردی بر‌اساس تحلیل SWOT و فرایند تحلیل شبکه‏ ای (ANP) مطالعة موردی (پارک جنگلی آبیدر در شهر سنندج). نشریه گردشگری شهری, 2(2), 121-136.‎
  • کیانی اکبر؛ سالاری سردری فرضعلی. (1390). بررسی و ارزیابی اولویتهای منظر فضاهای عمومی شهر عسلویه با استفاده از مدل ANP. ماهنامه علمی پژوهشی باغ نظر, 8(18).‎
  • سعیدی حمیدرضا؛ نجفی اکبر. (1389). کاربرد فرایند تحلیل شبکه ای (ANP) در تعیین اولویت خروج دام از جنگل و ساماندهی جنگل نشینان (مطالعه موردی: سری باباکوه، حوضه آبخیز دو گیلان). مجلة جنگل ایران، انجمن جنگلبانی ایران. 309-321.‎
  • Aminu, M., Matori, A. N., Wan Yusof, K., & Zainol, R. (2013). A framework for sustainable tourism planning in Johor Ramsar Sites, Malaysia: a geographic information system (GIS) based analytic network process (ANP) approach. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, 6(3), 417-422.
  • Buckley, R. (2009). Ecotourism: Principles and Practices. Wallingford.
  • Fung, Tung, and FK-K. Wong. "Ecotourism planning using multiple criteria evaluations with GIS." Geocarto International 22.2 (2007): 87-105.
  • Bastian, O., Stein, C., Lupp, G., Behrens, J., Renner, C., & Grunewald, K. (2015). The appreciation of nature and landscape by tourism service providers and visitors in the Ore Mountains (Germany). Landscape online, 1-23.
  • Boers, Bas, and Stuart Cottrell. "Sustainable tourism infrastructure planning: A GIS based approach." In: Peden, John G.; Schuster, Rudy M., comps. eds. Proceedings of the 2005 northeastern recreation research symposium; 2005 April 10-12; Bolton Landing, NY. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-341. Newtown Square, PA: US Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station: 151-160. 2006.
  • Chen, Xiaoyu, and Lifang Qiao. "The Application of ANP Models in the Web-Based Course Development Quality Evaluation of Landscape Design Course." International Journal of Multimedia and Ubiquitous Engineering 10.9 (2015): 291-298.
  • Çetinkaya, Cihan, et al. "Evaluation of ecotourism sites: a GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis." Kybernetes 47.8 (2018): 1664-1686.
  • Cerreta, Maria, Pasquale Inglese, and Maria Luigia Manzi. "A multi-methodological decision-making process for cultural landscapes evaluation: the green lucania project." Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 216 (2016): 578-590.
  • Dargi, Ahmad, et al. "Supplier selection: A fuzzy-ANP approach." Procedia Computer Science 31 (2014): 691-700.
  • Eftekhari, Elham, and Masoud Mahdavi. "Land suitability assessment using ANP in a GIS environment for Tourism Development Site (Case study: Lavasan-e Kuchak Rural District, Tehran province, Iran)." Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research 8, no. 3 (2019): 5-17.
  • Feizizadeh, Bakhtiar, and Thomas Blaschke. "Land suitability analysis for Tabriz County, Iran: a multi-criteria evaluation approach using GIS." Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 56.1 (2013): 1-23.
  • Ghorbanzadeh, O., Pourmoradian, S., Blaschke, T., & Feizizadeh, B. (2019). Mapping potential nature-based tourism areas by applying GIS-decision making systems in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. Journal of Ecotourism, 1-23.
  • Aliani, H., BabaieKafaky, S., Saffari, A., & Monavari, S. M. (2017). Land evaluation for ecotourism development—an integrated approach based on FUZZY, WLC, and ANP methods. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 14(9), 1999-2008.
  • Hajizadeh, F., Poshidehro, M., & Yousefi, E. (2020). Scenario-based capability evaluation of ecotourism development–an integrated approach based on WLC, and FUZZY–OWA methods. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 25(6), 627-640.
  • Jones, Michael T., Brian McClendon, Amin Charaniya, and Michael Ashbridge. "Entity display priority in a distributed geographic information system." U.S. Patent 10,592,537 issued March 17, 2020.
  • Jokar, P., Masoudi, M., & Karimi, F. (2020). An MCE-based innovative approach to evaluating ecotourism suitability using GIS. Cuadernos de Investigación Geográfica.
  • Mansour, S., Al-Awhadi, T., & Al-Hatrushi, S. (2020). Geospatial based multi-criteria analysis for ecotourism land suitability using GIS & AHP: a case study of Masirah Island, Oman. Journal of Ecotourism, 19(2), 148-167.
  • Malczewski, Jacek. "GIS-based land-use suitability analysis: a critical overview." Progress in planning 62.1 (2004): 3-65.
  • Kosko, B. "Fuzzy systems as universal approximators, FUZZ-IEEE'92." (1992): 1153-1162.
  • Mondino, Elena, and Thomas Beery. "Ecotourism as a learning tool for sustainable development. The case of Monviso Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, Italy." Journal of Ecotourism 18.2 (2019): 107-121.
  • Kamyabi, Saeid, and Mohamad Ali Rajaee Rizi. "Ecotourism Development Strategies in Chahardangeh District of Sari County." Journal of Research and Rural Planning 6.4 (2017): 107-126.
  • World Economic Forum (2013). Reducing barriers to economic growth and job creation. The travel & tourism competitiveness report.
  • Shemshad, Masoomeh, and Iraj Malek Mohammadi. "Analysis of Factors Affecting the Ecotourism Development." International Journal of Architecture and Urban Development 2.4 (2012): 19-24.
  • Smirnov, Alexander, Alexey Kashevnik, Sergey Mikhailov, Nikolay Shilov, Daria Orlova, Oleg Gusikhin, and Harry Martinez. "Context-Driven Tourist Trip Planning Support System: An Approach and OpenStreetMap-Based Attraction Database Formation." In Information Fusion and Intelligent Geographic Information Systems, pp. 139-154. Springer, Cham, 2020.
  • UN-WTO, Conservation International, Rainforest Alliance, UNEP. (2016). A practical guide to good practice for tropical forest-based tours. Retrieved from http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/sites/default/files/publication/pdf/good_practice.pdf.
  • Zabihi, H., Alizadeh, M., Wolf, I. D., Karami, M., Ahmad, A., & Salamian, H. (2020). A GIS-based fuzzy-analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) for ecotourism suitability decision making: A case study of Babol in Iran. Tourism Management Perspectives, 36, 100726.
  • Vaz, Eric, and Dora Agapito. "Recovering Ancient Landscapes in Coastal Zones for Cultural Tourism: A Spatial Analysis." In Regional Intelligence, pp. 9-28. Springer, Cham, 2020.
Journal of Geography and Planning
Volume 26, Issue 79
May 2022
Pages 256-243

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics