Identifying And Prioritizing Sustainability Indicators To Evaluate The Performance Of Nature Tourism Tours (Case study: Khamir-Qeshm mangrove forests)

Today, nature tourism activities are in significant demand with the aim of benefiting from natural elements and preserving nature along with providing economic benefits to local communities. The nature tourism process is dependent on the desired performance of the nature tourist, the host local community and the nature tourism tours. The continued development of nature tourism activities requires assessing the sustainability of nature tourism tours and understanding visitor satisfaction to ensure long-term sustainability in natural ecosystems. Accordingly, in the present study, a list of indicators was presented to evaluate the sustainability of nature tourism tours and their importance in the development of sustainable nature tourism in Khamir-Qeshm mangrove forests. For this purpose, 76 suggested indicators were identified and prioritized using Delphi questionnaire and analyzing experts' viewpoints. The obtained results indicate the importance of responsible tour performance towards ecotourists and also maintaining quality of the natural environment by increasing awareness and training of the ecotourists before visiting nature. The results of the indicators ranking also revealed that the highest priority is related to the environmental awareness course before the trip" and among the final coefficients, the highest rank is assigned to "managed consumption of drinking water". Likewise, 14 indicators were identified and selected as the best indicators with the highest rank. The list of identified indicators can help to identify the ideal nature tourism tours, as well as to evaluate the sustainability of their performance to obtain the satisfaction of local communities, the lasting experience of the nature tourist from the trip, and also the development of sustainable nature tourism in the mangrove forests of Khamir-Qeshm. The list of provided indicators is of great use and importance not only for the studied area, but also for other nature destinations that have the ability to develop nature tourism and conduct nature tourism tours