Prioritization of Ecotourism Criteria in Desert and Semi-arid Ecosystems by Delphi Method

Demand for tourism in the nature necessitates a comprehensive planning, attention to the environment and preventing its destruction. In order to nature- based tourism planning in arid and semi- arid areas, 12 criteria and 41 sub- criteria for ecotourism planning were obtained through surveying the local and foreign references. These criteria were presented to the tourism and environment experts in form of Delphi questionnaire for determining the location criteria of ecotourism in arid and semi arid areas and their prioritizations. Results based on the percentage of criteria importance and the importance degree of the studied criteria showed that 11 main criteria including the recreational importance, management elements, physical properties of the area, wildlife, water resources, environment sensitivity, cultural-historical aspects, social aspects, vegetation and economical aspects including 28 sub-criteria are important for ecotourism planning and decision making accordingly. It is clear that using ecotourism criteria in other natural ecosystems requires a separate and particular study.