Assessment of natural tourism in the Lorestan province

Abstract

Tourism industry is that its development requires an adequate understanding of the issues and factors affecting the economic, social, cultural and natural heritage in each region. Iran tourism industry as a high potential for growth and development has. According to World Tourism Organization, Iran ranks tenth archaeological and historical attractions and natural attractions ranked fifth in the world and one of the safest countries in the region and the world in terms of security for foreign tourists. Between the poles of tourism in Iran, Lorestan province, including areas that according to the environmental features and natural attractions that can be programmed with the management and staff in the region become a major tourism area. The status of tourism in this Lorestan province has been assessed using TOPSIS model. In this way, the decision matrix that consists of m option and n index which options include the province city indices in order of importance are: climate, ecosystems, water, vegetation, protected areas and environmental hazards. Using TOPSIS Model results show that climatic factors weighing 0/4245 in Tourism is the most important factor affecting natural. Also according to this model, Khorram Abad city (with the highest similarity to the ideal positive), highest natural potential in attracting tourists and city Alashtar (with the lowest similarity to the ideal positive), the potential is lowest. © 2012 EuroJournals Publishing, Inc.