Identifying the Ecotourism Potential Locations using AHP and Weighted Overlay Analysis: A case of Bundelkhand region in Central India

Abstract

Ecotourism has been growing faster than other forms of tourism due to increasing awareness and an ongoing sustainable development paradigm. Its capacity to help grow the local economy and livelihood in backward and remote regions has been recognized in numerous studies in recent years. The Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh stands as one of India’s severely underdeveloped areas. Its condition arises from a drought-prone agrarian economy shaped by unfavorable geological and climatic conditions. The NITI Aayog & UNDP report from 2012 on the region identified tourism as one of the potential measures to fight poor socio-economic development in the area. Fortunately, the region has six protected areas yet to be explored for its full potential for ecotourism development. So, this study focuses on the initial step of ecotourism planning, i.e., mapping the potential ecotourism locations using a multi-criteria decision-making approach, in which eight diversified ecotourism-related criteria have been selected based on geographical characteristics of the region, literature and field observations. Those criteria have been weighted using the Analytical Hierarchy Process for GIS-based Weighted Overlay Analysis and suitability mapping. Further, two highly potential locations over the region have been identified through ecotourism potentiality mapping and verified through field visits.