Evaluation of spatial suitability for ecotourism development in Abyaneh-Barzroud watershed basin Esfahan Province using hierarchical analysis

The purpose of this study is to identify, evaluate and introduce ecotourism-prone tourism areas in the "Abyaneh-Barzrood" catchment area due to its unique natural, cultural, historical and human potentials. Factors influencing the location of susceptible areas in this study include 9 environmental variables that after digitizing the baseline maps and preparing an AHP questionnaire from an expert on the relative importance of criteria and sub-criteria compared to each other. In this study, the criteria of road, river, vegetation and accommodation services had the greatest impact on choosing a suitable place for ecotourism, followed by the criteria of restaurant, spring, aqueduct and the area of ​​the village, respectively. In GIS environment, using Expert Choice software based on the weights obtained from the mentioned model and its processing, a ranking map of fitness scores for ecotourism was prepared in 3 categories: weak, medium and good. This map was validated with 59 control locations in field visits. All potential tourist destinations are in a good range, which confirms the accuracy of this map. The most attractive areas of the basin, which covers about 25% of the basin area, with a good rank, are located in the central parts of the basin and along the transportation route between the villages of the region. Areas of medium attractiveness, which cover about 46% of the basin area, are mainly located in the southern part of the basin and within the environmental protected area. Low attractiveness areas with a spread rate of about 29% of the area are mainly in the northwest and southwest of the basin and are seen as spots in other areas of the basin.