Evaluating Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process in Prioritizing Rural Tourism Development Scenarios (Case Study: Mazandaran Province)

Tourism is the fastest growing industry in recent years and has attracted much attention. Since Iran is among the top ten countries in terms of natural and historical tourism potential, among the top five countries in terms of tourism diversity and the diversity of the craft between the first two countries, thus we choose to evaluate the potential of rural tourism in Iranian Northern provinces “Mazandaran”. The objective of this research is drawing a picture, and developing rural tourism and highlighting the desired fields by the help of processing scenario and the Analytic Hierarchy Process. We develop 11 scenarios that include the transformation rural houses to Eco-tourism resorts, the development of rural training camps, the creation of eco hotels, the development of temporary residences in nature, the culture-based tourism development by creating museums, the virgin rural area tourism, the development of culture-based tourism by promoting cultural festivals, the development of health tourism, the food tourism development, the tourism development considering selling souvenirs and souvenir sales development by weekly rural market. Finally, according to the results the virgin rural area tourism scenario the virgin rural area tourism is one of the best tourism scenarios. Additionally we recommend to set up a center of health tourism as center of tourism development in rural area.