EVALUATION AND PRIORITIZATION OF TOURISM SITES IN KOOHBANAN CITY IN ORDER TO DEVELOP TOURISM IN IRAN

Abstract

Geographic perspectives make natural and unique attractions and have a high potential for tourism development with regard to spatial and geographical equilibrium. Recreational use of environmental capabilities, in addition to the appropriate facilities and conditions, requires the conservation of natural resources. This feature can be evaluated through the environmental capability measurement of tourism sites and the estimation of tourist demand. So the present research evaluates and prioritizes the tourism sites in Koohban applying VIKOR and TOPSIS Models to develop its tourism. To this aim, after identifying the tourism sites such as watery mills in Daregezk, Gerdukaj, Darehood and Bandar villages, their potentials were evaluated by such indicators as wideness, water resources, distance to tourist attractions, variety of attractions, distance to religious sites, business centers, facilities and services for catering and tourism, other welfare services, environmental diversity and pristineness, scarcity, historical and ancient aspects, apparent beauty and appropriate climates. The results of VIKOR Model imply that the site of Bandar village with point of 0.00189 from VIKOR indicator, point of 0.00376 from satisfaction indicator and point of 0.00153 from dissatisfaction indicator has the first ranking of tourism development in Koohbanan city. Other tourism sites, however, have achieved an acceptable rating in all three VIKOR indicators of satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and according to these indicators, the sites of the mill, Daregezk, Gerdukaj and Darehood ranked second to fifth in tourism development. The obtained results from TOPSIS Model show that Bandar and Daregezk villages with the highest potential and sustainability criteria, with a weight of 0.428 and 0.426, respectively, are in the first and second priorities, respectively. The villages of watery mills and Darehood with points of 0.368 and 0.338 have the third and the fourth priorities, respectively. Gerdukaj village with a relatively high point difference and a weight of 0.109 ranks the fifth.

Keywords

• tourism development
• recreational site
• Vikor model
• Topsis algorithm
• Koohbanan