Introduction and Evaluation of Potential Adventure Tourism Sites (Case study: Kermanshah Province)

Adventure tourism is a complex and dynamic phenomenon in tourism that has become increasingly commercial and rapidly growing in recent years as outdoor recreation. The mountainous nature and diversity of landforms prone to adventure tourism in Kermanshah province has made this type of tourism particularly prosperous, and holding festivals and conferences with the content of this type of tourism is proof of this claim. In this study, the aim is to identify potentially adventurous tourism sites in Kermanshah province and evaluate the sites based on their importance in attracting adventurous tourists using criteria affecting their ranking. The type of applied research and its method is descriptive-analytical and survey. Information from tourist sites and tools such as GPS, camera, Arc GIS software, and a researcher-made questionnaire was used. In this way, first, the characteristics of the selected sites were prepared using field and documentary studies and then completed in the form of a questionnaire by experts and adventurous tourists. Then, by identifying the criteria and sub-criteria and weighting them by AHP and Copras method, the sites were ranked. A review of 10 important adventure tourism sites from the perspective of experts and tourists, considering the effective criteria and sub-criteria, showed that the tourism criterion as the most important main criterion and variety of attractions, level of attractiveness and security, 3 sub-criteria with the highest score for evaluating and ranking tourism sites adventurous in Kermanshah province. The results showed that the tourist sites of Bisotun Wall, Piran Waterfall, and Parav Cave are of the highest importance in adventure tourism in Kermanshah province. Site prioritization also suggests that wall climbing and rock climbing are the most popular forms of adventure tourism