Sport Tourism Site Selection Model by Environmental Capability Evaluation: Lahijan County

The study is to determine the pattern of sport tourism locating in Lahijan city using the environmental model assessment through the GIS tool and overlaying of information layers. In this regard, after providing the necessary information layers using existing tourism environmental models, the above layers were integrated into the GIS environment, using overlay functions in the Arcview 9.2 software. Finally, after drawing up the final map, in the scale of the city, the implementation of sport tourism ecological models was assessed and the areas with the capability were identified. The results indicated that the study area can be divided into two main parts (south and north) and three zones. In total, 9/36321 hectares of extensive tourism potential (Class 1 with an 89% share) is a wide range of eligible tourist destinations. This zone includes skateboarding, walking, riding, running, hunting and riding. On the other hand, 30/288 hectares are eligible for concentrated tourism (class 1 with a 74% share). Some of the proposed activities for this zone include biking, horseback riding, motorcycle, golf, rally motors, rally cars, rally bikes, gliders and light aircraft. On the whole, the southern parts of the city do not have a high potential for developing recreational activities, and the insistence on doing these kinds of activities without planning and environmental considerations imposes irreparable damage to the natural environment of these areas. On the other hand, the existing ecosystem in the region is also unlikely due to its low level of sports tourism development.