Nature-based tourism zoning with consideration of environmental criteria

Tourism as a growing industry needs special attention in developing countries. During last decades، nature based tourism has been growing faster than other tourism fields and it seems to grow even faster. Ever growing demand for nature based tourism emphasizes the necessity of a holistic planning for preserving environment against degradation. Objective of this study is to present a nature based tourism planning in arid and semi-arid areas. Khatam township in south of Yazd province was selected as case study. First، criteria for nature based planning were chosen from foreign and domestic literature. Then Delphi method was implemented for screening and prioritizing these criteria resulting in 11 criteria and 29 sub-criteria ordered based on percentage and degree of importance. Each criterion was measured or mapped by a number of one to four sub-criteria and each sub-criterion by one indicator. Sub-criteria referred to climate were used to determine tourism climate index and time constraints. Subjective maps were developed by spatial sub-criteria. Using Spatial Multi Criteria Evaluation (SMCE) to find proper fields for nature based tourism; four zones were chosen with a total area of 17278 (ha) which is equal to 5% of study area. Employing qualitative sub-criteria in TOPSIS method and distance to ideal solution was used for prioritizing zones. Results showed that the smallest zone has the highest priority. Constraints on tourism activities were developed on sustainable nature based tourism framework basis in arid and semi-arid areas using tourists demands projected in questionnaires.