Environmental Researches

Environmental Researches

Assessing the Vulnerability of Geotourism Attractions in Tourist Destinations (Case Study: Urmia County)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 گروه جغرافیا، واحد ماهشهر، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، ماهشهر، ایران
2 گروه گردشگری، واحد الکترونیکی، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، تهران، ایران
3 عضو هیئت علمی دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی
10.22034/eiap.2026.475177.2604
Abstract
Geotourism is a form of nature tourism that focuses specifically on landscape and geology. It promotes tourism to geosites and conservation of geographic diversity and understanding of geosciences through appreciation and learning. The main goal of this research is to evaluate the vulnerability of geotourist attractions in the tourist destinations of Urmia County. According to the nature and purpose, this research is applied and its approach is qualitative. The strategy used in this research is logical reasoning in order to formulate the proposed research model. The archival method was used to collect primary data. The analysis of the theoretical texts in the current research was done qualitatively according to the nature of the data. Two methods of fuzzy hierarchy and Shannon entropy have been used to weight the indicators. According to experts, the research model has been validated using the path analysis technique. 30 experts in this field weighed the indicators. 19 human factors and 7 natural factors were identified as threats to Geotourism attractions. The results showed that by using the Shannon entropy method, among the natural factors, the Geotouris weight belongs to the threat of land subsidence with a weight of 0.342, followed by landslides, massive debris flows, rockfalls with a weight of 0.308 among the human factors of climate change with a weight of 0.067. Urban development with a weight of 0.065 and recreation with a weight of 0.064 are in the first to third ranks. In the fuzzy hierarchical method among the natural factors of land subsidence with a weight of 0.058. Soil erosion with a weight of 0.055 ranks second among human factors, climate change with a weight of 0.067, urban development with a weight of 0.065, and recreation with a weight of 0.064 have the first to third ranks.
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