Land Capability Evaluation for Ecotourism Development in Ilam Province, a Gis Approach

Abstract

As one of the most wealth-generating industries in the world, tourism has been the center of attention by many governments worldwide. Depending on the purpose of tourism, it has been classified into different types, one of which is ecotourism. Given that ecotourism currently accounts for a small part of the whole, however, it has a rapid growth rate. The present study aims at zoning suitable areas in Ilam, a province in western Iran, for ecotourism development purposes. Accordingly, the digital maps of elevation, slope, land cover/land use, mineral springs, and water resources were prepared, at first. Afterwards, the suitable and unsuitable areas were segregated by Boolean functions. Overlaying the map layers by GIS software, the suitable areas were identified. The obtained results revealed that the top attractions are mainly distributed from the northern and central province to the southeastern parts where climatic condition is favorable, and rich in natural land cover and water resources. Moreover, the southern and western parts were evaluated poor in term of eco-tourist attractions.

Land suitability map and ecological carrying capacity for the recognition of touristic zones in the Kalat region, Iran: a multi-criteria analysis based on AHP and GIS

“…Similar works with the subject of multi-criteria evaluation of tourism in Iran just assessed the ecological capability and suitability zoning for tourism or ecotourism (e.g., Ahmadi et al 2015;Aliani et al 2017;Masih et al 2018;Kianisadr et al 2019). Most of the global researches have measured the tourism's capability through GIS-based multi-criteria methods (e.g., Aminu et al 2017;Batman and Demirel 2015;Gigović et al 2016).…”

Selection of Preferable Eco-Tourism Destinations using Analytical Hierarchy Process in Purulia District, West Bengal (India)

“…High Elevation always enhancing the degree of landscape attractiveness. The vertical relief creates diverse attractiveness, unique biodiversity with natural flora and fauna, temperature, and climatic variation (Ahmadi et al 2015;Bunruamkaew et.al,2012;Kumari et.al 2010). The location needs to have a high relative relief so that tourists can get a good panorama of the valley, the grassland, and any other picturesque attractions further 3), (Fig 3A)…”

Geodiversity evaluation and geoconservation using grid analysis: case study, north of Ilam Province

“…The area under study for the paleontological index has great diversity and beauty (Ahmadi et al, 2018(Ahmadi et al, , 2015Mokhtari et al, 2019). Since the area is located in the folded Zagros Mountains and consequently in the Zagros fault zone, there are numerous sources of fossil species in the area, ranging from fossils of terrestrial and marine species to plant ones.…”