Determining and prioritizing the best strategies of ecotourism development in Haraz watershed

Today tourism is one of the largest industries around the world. Ecotourism is also a type of sustainable tourism whose aim is to minimize the negative effects on the natural and socio-cultural environment, which is now emerging as the fastest growing subset of the world's largest industry. Based on these changes, the need for strategic plans in this area is necessary. In this study, the watershed of Haraz has been studied. The reason for this is the unique natural features of this area for ecotourism, which has made it one of the pillars of ecotourism in Iran. The purpose of this study is to provide management strategies for the development of ecotourism in the watershed of Haraz. In line with this goal, the AWOT analysis was considered to be an effective combination of AHP and SWOT methods. The results show that simple local customs, appropriate interaction with tourists along with natural resources destruction due to infrastructure development are the most important strengths and weaknesses, respectively. Providing new job opportunities and changing local traditions were the most important opportunity and threat in this regard. In addition, "increasing the number of domestic and international advertisements, setting newly required rules and managing the existed executive rules, developing the culture of tourism accountability, inviting domestic and foreign investors, offering special investment opportunities and privileges, and raising tourists` awareness in order to protect the environment. " have been identified cases as the most effective strategies in the present study.