Naturalness Mapping of Fereydounshahr County with Respect to Ecotourism, Using Ordered Weighted Averaging Operator

Abstract

The importance of the economic aspect of tourism usually overshadow many natural tourism destinations. Fereydounshahr county in Isfahan province, with pristine mountainous landscapes and diverse natural features, has high potential to attract many tourists. However, pristineness over much of its area suggests limiting the public access based on the degree of naturalness. Hence, the aim of this research was to classify Fereydounshahr county based on naturalness. Accordingly, nine effective indicators were weighted, using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Idrisi software was then employed to overlay the digital layers of criteria and produce a naturalness map, that consisted of five classes (from very natural to developed), based on Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) approach under six different scenarios. Results showed that developed areas under the AND scenario and the natural areas under the OR scenario have the largest range. The extent of desirable areas, including natural and relatively natural, increased when moving from risk aversion to risk taking scenarios. Based on the results, most of the natural areas were concentrated in western parts of the region, due to the long distances from the main roads, high presence of wildlife, and the presence of steep slopes.

Keywords

• naturalness
• ehcotourism
• analytical hierarchy process (ahp)
• ordered weighted averaging approach
• fereydounshahr