Site Suitability Evaluation for Ecotourism Using GIS & AHP: A Case Study of Surat Thani Province, Thailand

The main objective of this study is to identify and prioritize the potential ecotourism sites using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in Surat Thani Province, Thailand. This study identifies the following factors as indicators of suitability within land ecosystems: landscape/naturalness, wildlife, topography, accessibility and community characteristics. The evaluating process for ecotourism site conducted based on nine chosen criteria including visibility, land use/cover, reservation/protection, species diversity, elevation, slope, proximity to cultural sites, distance from roads and settlement size. Those factors were selected according to the professional expert‟s opinions. AHP was effectively used in this study to calculate the details of the factors and class weights. GIS plays a crucial role in ecotourism planning. The methodology proposed was useful to identify ecotourism sites by linking the criteria deemed important with the actual resources of the Province.