GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM SPACE
Year:2017 | Volume:6 | Issue:21|Papers Count:8

Identifying the natural, economic and social potentials in an area improves the future plans for the area while preventing unexpected drawbacks in tourism development and environmental destructions. Of the important issues in tourism, identifying potentials, prioritizing infrastructures and tourism attractions in various areas of a city as well as the distribution of these infrastructures and facilities can be mentioned. Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province with its numerous natural, historical and cultural attractions can attract a lot of tourists each year. This article aims to prioritize Gorgan attractions using eight indicators of number of tourists, infrastructures, facilities and services, accessibility, attraction potentials, ability to attract tourists during different seasons, economic and environmental influences. The study is a descriptive - analytical one which was developed for the analysis of the data through combining AHP and FUZZY TOPSIS model. The population of the study consisted of 25 individuals who were experts in the tourism sector. The required data were collected using a questionnaire. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient reliability of the questionnaire was estimated to be .85. According to the results of the fuzzy TOPSIS model, tourism places of the mentioned province were prioritized from the highest to the lowest as follows: Yasuj Waterfall, Kuh Gol Lake, Mishi Spring, Dena protected area, Yasuj Forest Park, Belghis Spring, Kemer Dugh Waterfall, Creek Village, Shallal Don Path, and finally Sarvak.

Lorestan province has a lot of capabilities for geotourism which have caused this province to be selected as the capital of geotourism in Iran. The existence of ancient caves as the first human habitats, waterfalls, and lakes as well as places like Kuhdasht, Poledokhtar and Oshtorankooh have made the place an appropriate area in the province to create a geopark. Shirez valley in the west of Kuhdasht is valley in Lorestan province which includes unique geoturism instances like Dig Jin, Hoodoo, and Taq Tabiie. The existence of these attractions and other historical and cultural capabilities of the area have made the Shirez valley as one of the best places to be considered as a geopark by the UNESCO. An applied and analytical study was used the instruments of which were GPS, SWOT model, and a questionnaire which were used to achieve the desired goals. The results showed that despite the great geotourism potentials and unique geomorphic forms of the Shirz valley, it cannot be considered as a suitable site for the constructing a geopark since it is not wide enough and so it is impossible to construct the necessary infrastructure both at its entrance and in its inner parts. However, with regard to international standards for the construction of geoparks, the existence of Homian ancient cave, the Rock of Mir Malas, untouched nature and specific geomorphic forms within the surrounding valley, this area can be a good place to be constructed as a geopark.

The emergence of the idea of sustainable development with more emphasis on increasing the role of local communities, facilitates the move towards sustainable tourism development. The concept of sustainable tourism has its root in developing local communities; a development which causes financial, social, cultural, and political developments. This study aimed to assess the effect of reciprocal sustainable tourism development on sustainable development local communities in Nagadeh. An applied, descriptive – analytical design was used. The data analysis methods consisted of hierarchical cluster analysis (cluster analysis), two-way ANOVA and Scheffe post hoc test. In the cluster analysis, the criteria understudy were classified into four cluster each consisting three dimensions. The three macro-clusters were labeled "economic empowerment, management and planning", "social empowerment and strengthening of social capital" and "environmental empowerment and increased environmental sensitivity "The results showed that sustainable tourism development and sustainable development of local communities had been affected by the factors "economic empowerment, management and planning", "social empowerment and enhancing social capital", and "environmental empowerment and increased environmental sensitivity".

Prioritizing tourism areas based on scientific principles and decision making techniques in order to determine the potentiality of the area for planning, investment, and executing development project is one of the necessary approaches to achieve a sustainable development and to prevent wasting time and capital. This research was a descriptive – analytical research using 29 criteria to prioritize areas of East Gilan province regarding investment and tourism development. The obtained results from the AHP showed that Deylaman was ranked first as far as planning and development of tourism was considered. Lahijan with its natural beauty and man-made attractions was in the second rank and Ziaz and Sajiran were ranked the third. The results of cluster analysis showed that Deylaman, Lahijan, Ziaz and Sajiran, Ti ti, Shvyyl, and Abi nam were classified with the first priority for planning and were identified as a tourism pole. Halu Dasht, Leh Leh Rud, Khoseyl Dasht, Kelachay, Chaf and Chamkhaleh, Ali Sorud, Ab Sefid, Chaboksar and Amirkolaye were given the second priority for planning and becoming the tourist centers. Finally, Javaherdasht, Kia Kalaye, Mian Lengeh, and Serule were assigned the third priority for planning and becoming tourist centers.

This research aimed at studying the effects of tourism development on improving rural areas in five tourism villages of Chenaran. The statistical population included the rural households. The study also used Cochran Formula in order to specify the sample size and it utilized random, multi-stage and stratified sampling. A questionnaire was distributed among 30 rural households in order to obtain the necessary data. Then the results were analyzed using SPSS statistical software. Likert scale and one sample t-test were used to analyze the responses to the items “promoting social security” and “health and improving the villagers' awareness and education”. The average presented responses given by the statistical sample were about the effect of rural tourism development on evaluating indexes of “promoting social security and health” and “improving the villagers' awareness and education” based on Likert scale and using one sample t-test. The averages were generalized to the society and it was proved that the average responses for the designed items of the questionnaire in the amplitude was smaller than the specified limit or three. Thus it can be concluded that tourism development had a small effect on the evaluating indexes in the studied area.

Tourism as a dynamic industry has distinctive and unique features. In fact, it is one of the largest and most profitable industries in the world economy, as well as a tool for social and economic changes in many rural areas of developing countries. In this context, religious tourism which is one of the oldest tourism forms has been estimated to devote 26% of the total tourism to itself and to have a lot of effects on the host society. Therefore, in the present research the effects of tourism on sustainable development of rural areas from the perspective of the host society have been studied. An applied and descriptive-analytical study was selected for this research. The instruments which were used for data collection included questionnaires and interviews the results of which were analyzed using descriptive tests, as well as one-sample t-test and linear regression. The population of the study consisted of rural families who were living in Namarestagh and Amol. According to the census in 2011, the villages understudy consisted of 328 families, totally 814 persons. The results of the study indicated that religious tourism is positively effective as far as such social indicators as satisfaction with educational facilities and housing, increased participation in social affairs; and rural and social trust; as well as economic indicators such as unemployment, job satisfaction, and diverse sources of income are considered.

This study aimed to evaluate the ecological potential of Tehran through the development of ecotourism using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and fuzzy logic in Geographic Information System (GIS). The research method of the present study was a descriptive - analytic one based on documentary, library and field studies as well as the analysis of spatial data. The place of the study was chosen based on previous similar studies which were tailored to local conditions. In this article, eight criteria including altitude, vegetation, soil texture, slope, slope direction, geology, soil, and land use were applied for zoning the lands which were suitable for developing ecotourism in Tehran province. Besides assessing the ecological potential of the region for ecotourism development, the researchers used a combination of AHP and Fuzzy Logic in GIS. The obtained results showed that the method of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in approximately 27.41 percent of the understudy area was equivalent to 164,274.43 hectares and in a very proper class. The AHP for very inappropriate and unsuitable class was nearly 56.92 percent which equaled 762,401.8 hectares of the area. About 15.63 percent of the area equaled 206,317.46 hectares was in the average class. On the other hand, the results of the fuzzy logic analysis showed that approximately 42.32 percent of the area understudy equaled 610,669.46 hectares in the proper class. This is the amount for inappropriate and unsuitable class which equaled 44.57 percent or 590,249.16 hectares of area. About 13.11 percent of the total area or 167,091.37 hectares of the belonged to the middle class.

Tourism industry as a sensitive industry to climate is directly affected by climatic change. Climatic changes can develop or stagnate tourism industry. Sustainable natural environment is a kind of sustainable tourism. In this study, the annual temperature parameters of Hamedan were analyzed in order to determine any probable climate changes during a period from 1976 to 2015. Thus a series of annual temperatures were investigated based on NRMC method. The obtained data were significantly meaningful. In the NRMC method where the data were divided into two areas, the minimum and maximum data as well as the average temperature had all a rising trend and the presence of significant changes in the time series had an increasing abrupt slope too. In order to have a long term planning for tourism and regarding the past trend of temperature changes in Hamedan as well as the data obtained from Lars – WG, it was shown that the temperature in Hamedan has had a significantly meaningful trend during the last forty years and it was predicted that this trend will continue in next twenty years. Thus tourism attractions in Hamedan can affect climatic changes. So the temperature increase and its consequences must be considered in tourism planning for future to achieve a permanent development in this regard.