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Abstract
The aim of this study is finding suitable locations for ecotourism development in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. For this, potential ecotourism sites were identified and ranked using Geographical Information System and Analytical Hierarchy Process. Five factors and 15 criteria were identified to evaluate suitability of sites. Factors and criteria were selected based on literature review, local knowledge and experts’ opinions. Considering the national and international contexts and effects of ecotourism, this study proposes treating highly suitable areas more ‘naturally’ and, for conservation programmes, creating tourist facilities in moderately suitable areas by targeting growth centres and protecting agricultural land as well as local primary activities in marginally suitable areas.
Notes
1. Growth Centres are the market places of their rural hinterlands, having township characteristics for social and administrative infrastructural supports or which can otherwise be treated as towns.
2. Lawachhara National Park: a designated protected area under a reserve forest of Moulavibazar District, Bangladesh. Ecotourism facilities have been created in this site; at the same time, the site is used to safeguard the conservation values ecologically, biologically and socio-economically.