A Research on the Sufficiency of Using GIS Technology in Ecotourism Land Suitability Analysis

Abstract

In recent years, it has been observed that Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology is widely used in studies to determine suitable areas for ecotourism development. GIS technology is a powerful approach that offers a systematic and comprehensive analysis using digitized data. Researchers try to create common methods by giving numerical values to components such as topography, land cover, climate, sociocultural structure, etc. However, the fact that most of the studies are in the form of case studies, land-specific evaluations in each study and the difficulty of expressing some qualities numerically make it difficult to reveal common methods. In this study, the effects of various methods and approaches used in different stages of land suitability analysis performed with GIS tools on the results were examined. It is seen that the results vary according to the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques accompanying GIS, the selection of the criteria used in the analysis and the methods of assigning weight to them, how the criteria are standardized and the types of suitability analysis that enable the interpretation of the result map. In particular, the difficulty and diversity of expressing sociocultural components numerically reveals that qualitative evaluation is also necessary besides quantitative evaluation with GIS. In addition, the Natural Breaks Method, Equal Interval Classification and FAO's (Food and Agriculture Organization) Land Classification, which are used to determine the ecotourism suitability levels, create different patterns on the analysis map. As a result, GIS technology alone is not enough to create common and prevalent methods in this field and it needs to be supported by evaluations specific to the field of study and the planned activity.