Evaluation of Tourist Attractions in Borujerd County with Emphasis on Development of New Markets by Using Topsis Model

Abstract

This research aims to identify tourist attractions in Borujerd County in order to develop new tourism markets in Lorestan province of Iran. For that purpose and with the use of GIS, parameters such as slope, aspect, elevation, precipitation, land use, topography, and landform geology are separately studied and digital maps for each feature are created. Through interviews with experts and with regard to those parameters, ecotourism activities in the region are identified; and the final maps of the zones suitable for these activities are produced. These activities have been analyzed using TOPSIS multi-criteria decision model and based on marketing factors. TOPSIS analysis defines the order of preference of the region’s tourism activities as ecotourism, rural tourism, hiking, mountaineering, and winter sports respectively. In other words, the mentioned activities have higher marketing priority.