Spatial Analysis and Capability Assessment of Tourism Susceptible Zones in Fasa County

Tourism has a close relationship with the environmental capabilities, therefore, the feasibility assessment of tourism susceptible zones can help identify capacity, refine development plans, and preserve the environment and sustainable development. Thus, the purpose of this research is to evaluate the potential of tourism development and zoning in Fasa County through spatial analysis of tourism attractions. This process is based on the following steps: (1) spatial analysis of historical, cultural, religious, scientific, rural and natural attractions based on the density of tourist resources, (2) the zoning of mountain sport tourism, and (3) the zoning of agricultural tourism. In this regard, initially, tourism susceptible zones were presented by identifying various types of attractions, determining the spatial location, categorizing and density of them in an area, and then separating the areas with maximum densities. In order to zoning the sport tourism, the roughness factor in the form of slope more than 25% and elevations above 1700 m were used. The zonation of agricultural tourism was based on the vegetation areas with a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index more than 0.05. The results showed that an area with 2606.69 km2 (62.11%) of the whole Fasa County is suitable for various types of tourism, which among them, sport, natural, sports-natural, historical-cultural-rural and historical-cultural-rural-natural zones have the highest extent with area of 1479.95, 267.05, 225.82, 132.89 and 129.35 km2 (35.26, 6.36, 5.38, 3.17 and 3.08 percent), respectively. In conclusion, the results of the study show the spatial graphic representation of Fasa County in the form of susceptible zones of various tourism, which, on the one hand, can provide a comprehensive guide for tourists and tour leaders, and on the one hand, can be a scientific document for managers and planners for constructive decisions and implementation of developmental policies.