@2024 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 2538-4384    Geographical Researches 2020;35(1):43-54

Background
Ecotourism as a branch of the revenue-making tourism industry is of great importance in sustainable development. Its emphasis on sustainability and the conservation of resources makes it different from nature tourism
Previous Studies
Iran is one of the most important countries because of its valuable biodiversity attractions and potentials [UBWTO, 2016]. Nowadays, the demand for recreations in pristine nature resorts, specially protected areas, is increasing, mainly due to urbanization's problems. Human activities in such places may cause ecological transformations by changing the soil quality, vegetation, wildlife, water resources, air quality, and making noise pollution [Hammitt et al, 2015]. According to the studies conducted in Iran, the vegetation of Chaghasabz, Ilam is considerably damaged. Moreover, both PH and soil apparent density increased [Eshghi Rad et al, 2011]. The results of similar research in Noor forest park shows an increase in the number of visitors which almost doubled the soil apparent density or soil compactness and reduced soil porosity considerably [Bakhshi et al, 2010]. The majority of the studies on tourism tend to evaluate carrying capacity. Juardo et al (2017) measured the carrying capacity in coastal areas. Ye et al (2016) measured the environmental carrying capacity in China and analyzed the relationship between the optimum number of visitors and socio-economic pressure on the host community. The results show more vulnerability of western and central parts of the country in comparison to other parts. Reghunathan et al (2016) and Moradi et al (2019) analyzed the recreational carrying capacity in Mashhad environs. Rezaei & Ghahramani (2015) evaluated the importance of the carrying capacity in the determination of different land uses in tourist complexes. Hoseeinzade & Erfanian (2015) measured the carrying capacity in coastal parts of Kish Island.
Aim(s)
This study aimed to plan the ecotourism in protected areas of Shahrood using the ecological carrying capacity and the influential factors in the evaluation of ecotourism.
Research type
This is an empirical survey that is comparative-analytical in terms of the analysis method.
Research society, place and time
This research is carried out in quad protected areas of Shahrood.
Sampling method and number
The first step is to determine the evaluation criteria which were all approved by an elite of 15 people in the environment and tourism fields.
Used devices&materials
LISREL software is used to evaluate the goodness-of-fit test and GIS was used for drawing the final map. Moreover, the questionnaire was used to evaluate the causal conditions.
Findings by Text
24 items in form of a questionnaire were used to evaluate the causal condition. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (from elite's opinion) show items No. 16, 22, 23, and 24 have factor loading less than 0.4, then, should be removed from the model. Hence the modified model consists of 8 dimensions and 20 criteria. According to the software's outputs, factor loading is more than 0.4 for other criteria which shows selected criteria are appropriate measures (figure 2 and table 3).The results of goodness-of-fit test of ecotourism site evaluation are presented in table 4. The results show 20 of the given criteria might be proper for the evaluation of the ecotourism site. Using the reference information layers and matching them on the land, separate maps were drawn for each extracted dimension and the layers were overlaid according to the criteria's weight so as to prepare the final map.The ecotourism map by zones was drawn after information layers merging. Totally, 66474.8 ha (12.8% of the whole area) is evaluated to be proper for ecotourism. Each zone's area and the percentage is presented below: Mountain forest zone: 18613 ha (28%), mountainous and plain zone: 9306 ha (14%), desert zone: 38555ha (58%). The process of overlaying of information layers and the extraction of the final map is presented in figure 3. The physical carrying capacity of proper zones for ecotourism is calculated and presented below: Mountain forests: 23266 Mountain and plains: 11632 Deserts: 48194 The real physical carrying capacity should be measured after physical carrying capacity evaluation. Then, the limiting coefficient in each zone should be calculated (Table 5). Afterward, the real carrying capacity for each zone was calculated and the effective carrying capacity is determined to be 10% of the real carrying capacity (table 6).
Main comparison to the similar studies
The results show 20 out of 24 primary criteria for the evaluation of the ecotourism sites fitting were proper while 4 of them were rejected. These criteria were classified in 8 dimensions including physiography, geology, pedology, vegetation, animals, water resources, land use, and attractions. These results are consistent with the results of Bazmara Balashti et al (2017). However, it was different in the attractions dimension. Considering the limiting factors, real carrying capacity is far less than the physical carrying capacity which is of great importance in planning for ecotourism. This is consistent with the results of Moradi et al (2019), Taheri et al (2019), Reghunathan et al (2016), Sayan & Atik (2011), and Rezaei & Ghahramani (2015).
Suggestions
According to this research, effective carrying capacity is 10% of the real carrying capacity which shows 1743, 1765, and 3123 people can visit the mountain forest, mountains and plain, and desert zones of Shahrood, respectively at the same time. However, these numbers are far more than the current number of visitors.
Limitations
There is no limitation reported
Conclusions
To sum up, the protected areas of Shahrood have various potentials to attract visitors. However, the environmental carrying capacity was not taken into account in this region. Hence, conservation should be considered in tourism planning so as to reach a proper carrying capacity.This region's management should be such that it does not threaten the conservative values such as animals' habitat. Moreover, it should make a stunning memory in visitors' minds. Finally, the carrying capacity technique, determines the quality and quantity of the tourism in small scale, while the tourism and sustainable development are large scale issues related to political, economic, and cultural relationships at both national and international levels.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr. Abdi and Dr. Behabahani for their valuable guidelines.
Conflict of interest
None.
Ethical Permissions
None.
Funding Sources
None.

TABLES and CHARTS

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