Application of LAC for Recognition of Sustainable River Tourism Indicators (Case Study: Karaj River)

The protection and use of recreational areas as a sustainable resource can be a very significant issues، especially when they are located within a protected areas. Different management approaches such as Limits of Acceptable Changes (LAC) can be performed to provide the balance between the use and the protection of resources. LAC method is one of the planning frameworks that are used in tourism areas. This process requires acquisition and integration of the ecological and socio-economical data for the selection of the important indicators that are considerable for visitors’ satisfaction as well as monitoring standards. This method was conducted in a case study of some recreational areas along Karaj protected river in Central Alborz Protected Area. For this purpose، following data was collected: visitors’ view (questionnaires) and different methods for quantity measuring. 455 people of Karaj river`s tourist sampled. The validity of the questionnaires was approved through panel of expert`s judgment and the reliabilities of the main scales of the questionnaires were 0/72 and 0/81 for the recreation opportunity spectrum questionnaires and visitors’ satisfaction questionnaires، respectively. Spss software was applied to analyze the data. The results depicted that 10 indicators should be assessed. A discriminate analysis was performed to identify correlations between selected variables، and as a result، six among those were highlighted (trash in the water، trash along river banks، and water quality as environmental indicators، as well as number of visitors، visitors’ distance to river، and visitors’ awareness of indicators as social indicators). The results showed that the following standards must be considered for the site: Less than 12 percent of trash (both on water surface and river banks) family biotic index less than five، less than 625 individuals per hectare، more than nine meters settlement point from the river.