Ecotourism planning using remote sensing and GIS: A case study for Marvdasht, Iran

In recent years the concept of rural or ecotourism has been gathering impetus in the countryside of developing countries. Regions which were previously based on agriculture are now urgently seeking new forms of income generation. This paper demonstrates the uses of remote sensing, Geographical Information System (GIS) and Multi-Criterion Decision-Making (MCDM) in an integrated approach for rational planning of ecotourism activities and conservation measures. For this purpose, we try to identify the appropriate areas for ecotourism development, but also pointed out the weaknesses which are now obstructing the growth of this, in many ways the most perspective form of tourism in Marvdasht County. The result from the analysis indicates that from the view point of environmental attractions, the ecological attractions of the study region have the priority in development of tourism which was advised to put emphasize on it for expansion of natural tourism and ecotourism.