Evaluation of the capabilities of tourist sites in Mahshahr city Based on the Prolong model

The development of the tourism industry and the resulting income has provided the basis for competition between countries. The tourism authorities are making a double effort to attract more international tourists by introducing tourist and geo-tourist places and provide the basis for the distribution of domestic wealth through them. The city of Mahshahr in Khuzestan province is no exception to this and in this context, the structures It has many scientific, ancient and cultural sites that have high potential for tourists. Among the natural attractions of this province, we can mention the wetlands, river banks, bridges and parks, estuaries, etc. as tourist places, which are subject to historical and influential factors They are social, geology and geomorphology. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the criteria and capabilities of tourist places in Mahshahr city. The main problem of the current research is based on a main question, which is the highest value of tourism among the geoclimatic attraction indicators of Mahshahr city? Also, by identifying some geotourism places, investigate their importance in attracting tourism in this city.

This research is of a descriptive-analytical type and to collect data from the method 1. Library, documents and fieldwork were used. 2. In order to determine the exact location of the studied stations, the software (Google Earth) was used. 3. The obtained information was adjusted in the Prolong tables (Prolong method). 4. Experts and tourism professors and students were asked to complete the questionnaire. During the field visits, 4 places in the desired area, including Khormosi (station no. 1), the next station Khor Smiley (station no. 2), the third station of the deserts around Mahshahr (station no. 3), the fourth station of the Salt Lake (station No. 4) was selected.

This part of the research work, first, the tables related to the score criteria in terms of cultural and historical value, appearance and economic beauty along with scientific value and the level of productivity as well as the quality of exploitation were brought and prepared for analysis. After identifying some geotourism capabilities of the studied area, the effective factors in the development of these landforms were analyzed using the Prolong model: First, the tourism criterion of Mahshahr city was evaluated with four criteria of external beauty, scientific, cultural, historical and socio-economic. Each of the criteria was scored and finally the overall value of the area was determined. Also, the average value of productivity was obtained from the sum of the points of the value of quantity and quality of productivity and calculating their average.

The results showed that Namak Lake and Khor Smiley with value (0.525 and 0.531) have the highest average tourism and Mahshahr desert (0.475) has the lowest average tourism. The highest average productivity value is related to Namak Lake with an average of (0.62) and the lowest productivity value with (0.24) is related to Khor Smiley. Also, the salt lake has the highest quality of productivity.