Recreational Interests of Visitors and Their Effects on Miankaleh Wildlife Refuge

Today، ecotourism is a major tourist activity around the world. Ecotourism is one of the strategies for supporting conservation and ensuring income in the protected areas. When implemented within the capabilities of natural systems evaluated based on natural and socio-economic factors، ecotourism can simultaneously lead to regional prosperity and environmental protection. The goal of research is determination of natural potential، recreational opportunity، and effective factors in their choice in natural areas. The area is located south of the Caspian Sea in Mazandaran and Golestan Provinces. We used questionnaires and field survey for collecting public opinions. Results indicated the high tendency of visitors for bird watching، swimming، nature photography and filming and boating among all the suggested recreational activities. Also، the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used for assessment of the relationships between age، sex and visitor groups and recreational activities. We found significant relationships between the groups in many of recreational activities such as research، resting and photography and filming of nature. The results of this study showed this area lacked sufficient facilities for visitors، therefore planning، preparation and implementation of comprehensive tourism infrastructure are essential to attract more ecotourists that can also reduce negative effects of recreational activities on the environment.