Evaluating Nature-Based Tourism Destination Attractiveness with a Fuzzy-AHP Approach

Abstract

Nature-based tourism attractiveness (NBTA) has yet to be assessed by coupling empirical measurement of supply and demand indicators with simultaneous assessment of tourist and tourism expert perspectives. Based on a guiding principle that the overall attractiveness of a tourism destination should combine the evaluation of existing resources or attractions and their perceived attractiveness, the purpose of this study is to develop and apply a novel methodological approach for assessing tourism attractiveness of nature-based destinations. This approach developed here combines an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with a Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method (FCEM). The resulting Fuzzy-AHP approach to NBTA was tested at the Changbai Mountain Biosphere Reserve, a popular nature-based tourism destination in China. The findings confirm that this Fuzzy-AHP approach is a more reliable and comprehensive method for evaluating the destination attractiveness than pre-existing approaches. In addition to theoretical contributions related to the merging of various approaches to assessing destination attractiveness and the development of a tool specific to nature-based tourism destinations, this work will be of interest to decision makers seeking more effective tools for planning, marketing, and developing nature-based tourism destinations.

Evaluation of Nature Based Tourism Potentials of Karagöller (Borçka, Şavşat and Murgul) in Artvin Province with CRITIC - PROMETHEE-GAIA Methods

“…Accessibility conditions were also an important factor for NBT in lakes. The importance of accessibility in destination competitiveness has been confirmed by other studies in the literature (Gu et al, 2022;Zhou et al, 2015 etc. ).…”

“…However, Murgul Karagöl lags behind other lakes in terms of supporting infrastructure and image. Various infrastructure conditions need to be developed to support a destination's NBT potential (Cerreta et al, 2021;Gu et al, 2022;Lee et al, 2010). Accessibility conditions were also an important factor for NBT in lakes.…”

“…In particular, MCDM techniques have been frequently used in decision-making for NBT planning and management. Evaluating the tourism potential of a destination depends on different criteria such as attractiveness, accessibility, sustainability, infrastructure, socioeconomic development (Gu et al, 2022;Lee et al, 2010;Lee et al, 2014;Lee, 2020). In decision problems, it isn't easy to choose the most suitable one among more than one alternative on the axis of various criteria.…”

“…Therefore, determining and evaluating the capacity and resources of potential areas for NBT (Rezvani et al, 2022) constitutes an important step in NBT destination marketing (Deng et al, 2002). Researchers to determine the tourism potentials of NBT destinations, (Dhami et al, 2017;Gu et al, 2022;Hamid et al, 2013;Maaiah et al, 2021;Zhang and Shing Chan, 2016;Zhou et al, 2015 etc. ) various approaches (such as MCDM techniques and integrated use of GIS-AHS) have been used by.…”

“…At this point, MCDM techniques allow the evaluation of NBT destinations based on more than one criterion. For example, Gu et al (2022), in their study evaluating NBT destination attractiveness, combined Fuzzy AHP with the perspectives of tourists and tourism experts. Their findings confirmed that the Fuzzy-AHP approach is more reliable and comprehensive than pre-existing approaches to assessing destination attractiveness.…”