Ecotourism strategy of UNESCO city in Iran: Applying a new quantitative method integrated with BWM

Abstract

The preservation of the integrity of ecological and cultural resource values with tourism potential and the reduction of visitor and environmental pressures on these values are achieved by sustainable tourism development. In this context, ecotourism is a sustainable and responsible type of tourism that can protect the tourism resources and consequently, develops the socio-economic conditions of the country including those of local people. In this study, Masouleh village, located in the northeast of Iran with sensitive-fragile vegetation and wildlife protected on an international and national scale and known for its local architecture and traditional lifestyle, was selected as the study area. However, the lack of a tourism plan, insufficient investment in tourism, insufficient technical infrastructure, and uncontrolled increase in land prices have negatively affected these sensitive ecological and cultural landscape values. The methodology of this research included field survey, interviews, and strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats (SWOT) analysis with Best and Worst Method (BWM) conducted with experts and local people to rank ecotourism strategies according to their priority. Among the 4 main and 10 sub-ecotourism criteria, S1 “the presence of vegetation and wildlife” and Q4 “being on the UNESCO tentative list” were the highest priority strategies for the development of ecotourism. This study also proposed a quantitative integrated method model that listing priorities for successful ecotourism strategies of the region.