Potential suitability mapping evaluation for ecotourism development in Darjeeling Himalayan region of India
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21724103 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Debasish Roy (0000-0003-1853-9314, Department of Geography and Applied Geography, University of North Bengal, Siliguri, India, corresponding author), Priyanka Kundu (0000-0002-4907-2350, Department of Geography and Applied Geography, University of North Bengal, Siliguri, India), Surajit Paul (0000-0001-9498-6824, Department of Geography and Applied Geography, University of North Bengal, Siliguri, India), Bipul Chandra Sarkar (0000-0002-1481-393X, Ananda Chandra College) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 414-435 |
| Publication date | 2024-07-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Ecotourism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1472-4049 • E-ISSN: 1747-7638 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14724049.2023.2272059 |
| OpenAlex | W4387878158 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 41 |
Ecotourism is the nature-based economic sector essential for sustainable local economic development. The present study aims to design suitable sites for ecotourism using the GIS-based Criteria Importance Through Inter Criteria Correlation (CRITIC) technique in the Darjeeling Himalayan region of India. The study attempts eight essential factors for evaluating the suitability map. The suitability map was categorized into four classes: Highly Suitable, Moderately Suitable, Marginally Suitable, and Least Suitable. The result revealed 786.23 sq. km (33.81%) as highly suitable, 797.549 sq. km (34.30%) as moderately suitable, 438.48 sq. km (18.86%) as marginally suitable, and 303.01 sq. km (13.03%) as least suitable. The result shows northern and north-western parts, namely Jorebunglow Sukiapokhri, Mirik, Kurseong, Rangli-Rangliot blocks, and the north-eastern parts Kalimpong I and Kalimpong II blocks, as highly suitable zones for ecotourism development. Finally, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and area under curve (AUC) analyses were used to validate the suitability map. The model validation with an AUC-ROC value was assigned 0.845, suggesting that the outcome is highly reliable with ground truth. The study can be helpful for policymakers to understand the spatial information of ecotourism in Darjeeling Himalaya
Cartography · Ecotourism · Environmental resource management · Geography · Physical geography · Sustainable development · Tourism · Environmental Science · Groundwater and Watershed Analysis · Soil and Land Suitability Analysis · Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation · Ecology
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Determining objective weights in multiple criteria problems
A Content Analysis of Ecotourism Definitions
Tourism Planning
Sustainable Tourism Development
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Application of analytical hierarchy process and GIS for ecotourism potentiality mapping in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, India
GIS-Fuzzy Dematel MCDA model for the evaluation of the sites for ecotourism development
Utilizing multi-criteria decision to determine the best location for the ecotourism in the east and central of Fars province, Iran
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |