Evaluation of Ecotourism Competence in Golestan National Park through Weighted Linear Combination Method

Development of tourism in preserved areas has many advantages both for their management and for tourists. But we should consider that tourism activities can have negative effects on tourism experiences and tourist resorts qualities and characteristics in the absence of an appropriate planning and management and without determining the capacity and capability of the area. Therefore, determining suitable areas for expansion and development of tourism in preserved areas and national parks is crucially important for sustainable exploitation of natural resources. Golestan National Park, as one of the preserved areas, has many significant tourist attractions. This study used weighted linear method, AHP and GIS to determine suitable ecotourism sites in this area. The criteria used in this study included the distance to the river, to the road, to the village, to water sources, to wildlife habitat, and the distance to slope and vegetation densities. Finally, appropriate areas for ecotourism with different degrees of suitability were determined. According to the classification map, the regions with very high potential have the minimum area of 0.25% and the regions with the high potential have the maximum area of 12.5% of the total study area. The research results indicated that the AHP weighting method and WLC method has high applicability in tourism site selection studies.