Evaluation of nature parks according to Multi Criteria Decision Making Methods in nature-based tourism processes: Giresun-Turkey

Abstract

Protected areas are the focal point of processes that come to the forefront and contribute to tourism with the concern of transferring national and international natural and cultural areas to future generations. This study includes the determination of the evaluation factors for tourism-based protected area approaches, and the analysis of the protected areas that developed in terms of tourism and infrastructure among the nature parks in Giresun province according to the AHP-TOPSIS method. The proposed model is designed according to 4 main groups resource values and 15 sub-criteria. In the research, the opinions of the experts on the protected areas were analyzed by making pairwise comparisons and alternative selection. The results of these analyzes contribute to the correct decision-making, planning, management, and precise determination of investment areas for the protected areas used for tourism purposes while providing convenience to eliminate the deficiencies in protection and infrastructure planning.