Analysis on Geomorphoturism attraction in regional tourism development(case ‎study: Sirjan desert)

This research is trying to use the models Pereira and Reynard to investigate Geomorphotourism potentials of Sirjan desert. The results show that based on Reynard model geomorphosite of Sirjan desert earns 7.42 of total 17 scores therefore this condition is favorable for tourism development. The results also show that based on Pereira model this site earns 13.18 of total 20 scores and has a high score in order to develop the tourism. Geomorphotourism can be explained as tourist attractions based on performance of formative systems at surface that by creating interesting forms and with aesthetic value, has a great ability in attracting tourists (Ramesht and Shah Zeydi, 354: 1390). In other words Geomorphotourism can be defined as the study of special geomorphic landscapes or Geomorphosites that have scientific, ecological, cultural, economic and aesthetic values simultaneously (Pereira et al 3, 159: 2007). Geomorphosites are geomorphologic landforms that have found scientific, historical, cultural, aesthetic and socio-economic values by people who take advantage of them (Shayan et al, 79: 2011). In this regard, this study tries to investigate tourism potentials of Sirjan desert using models Pereira and Rynard. The present study is based on descriptive and analytical methods depending on field observations. Then in order to assess Geomorphosites tourist potentials in the study area, Reynard and Pereira method was used. In Reynard method Geomorphosites are investigated based on scientific, added and combined values (Rynard, 2005, 181). In scientific value indices such as protection, scarcity, being an index and old Geography and in added value indices such as ecological, aesthetic, economic and cultural (with an emphasis on historical-land index) are considered (Lugon and colleagues, 2003, 83). In Pereira model geomorphologic and management values ​​assess Geomorphosites ability in tourism development. Geomorphologic value is calculated by summing up scientific and complimentary scales. On the other hand, the management value is calculated by summing up Geomorphosites use and protection scales. Sum of these two values, management and Geomorphologic, shows Geomorphosites ability to develop tourism. Generally the closer the result number to 20 is, the more influential in planning programs for tourism development it will be. Discussion and Sirjan desert with more than 1625 square kilometers of area is one of the largest deserts in the Isfahan Drainage basin and is located in southwest of Sirjan city. The desert is considered as a flat desert with plates of clay. The surface of the desert is covered with about 68% of clay plates and 32% of salt plates. Reynard model results show that the scientific, added and combined values respectively have 2.6, 3.82, 0.99 scores. Pereira model results also show that among the total 6.68 scores earned by the geomorphologic value, 4.04 is related to scientific scale and 2.82 is related to the complementary scale. Also the score obtained by the management value is 6.32 and 5.19 is related to the use scale and 1.13 is related to the protection scale of Geomorphosites. The results show that based on Reynard model 52% of the total mean scores belongs to the added value and therefore is the most important value in research. And this is because of the high scores in sub criteria such as economic potential, historical-land importance, multiplicity of attractions and ecological effects. After that scientific value with 35% of score is the second important value due to the high scores in sub criteria such as ​​old geography, and being index. Low score in protection sub criterion reduces the importance of the scientific value in comparison with the added value. The results indicate that combined value with 13% of the scores has the least importance in evaluating potentials of Sirjan desert Geomorphosites due to low scores in sub criteria such as management method and human and natural threats of Geomorphosites. Based on these results management method sub criterion with the mean score of 0.01 has the least importance. This indicates weakness in the protection and promotion management of Geomorphosites. The results of this model show that the added value with 3.82 of mean scores has achieved the highest score. After that scientific value with 2.6 of mean scores and combined value with 0.99 mean scores are respectively in the second and third place. On the other hand, the results of Geomorphotourism potential evaluation based on Pereira model shows that geomorphologic value with 6.86 of mean score has the most score and then management value with 6.32 of mean score is in the second place. According to this model, visible sub criterion with a score of 1.5 and aesthetic values ​​ with a score of 1.4 have the most scores among all. The overall results of the Pereira model suggest that the use scale with 39% of the total score has the most importance due to the high points in sub criteria such as availability with 1.37 and visibility with 1.5. The results show that after use scale, scientific and complimentary scales with a share of 21% of total scores are in the second place. The protection scale with 9% of the total scores indicates poor management of this Geomorphosite.