Explanation and analysis on the determination of health assessment indicators with the approach of Construction an index system in Ramsar tourism ecosystem

Introduction

Human disturbances, including the destruction of habitats and the spread of various types of pollution, have caused damage to ecosystems and affected their health. Tourism ecosystem, as one of the biggest economic drivers of the world, is a special hybrid ecosystem that includes nature, economy and society, and as a multiple system, it has been destroyed in different parts. Although many models have been developed to evaluate the health of the ecosystem, the weaknesses of the models used to evaluate the health of tourism ecosystems, such as not paying attention to important Indexes, using Indexes that overlap in terms of content, and The inappropriate classification of sub-dimensions in previous studies shows the necessity of developing models. The current research aims to determine the indicators used in the methods of assessment the health of the tourism ecosystem, taking into account a tourism ecosystem with a diverse landscape, analyzing the methods of assessment the health of the ecosystem. Ecosystem health assessment often uses information related to Indexes. The identity of the Indexes depends on the component that is being investigated and differs between ecosystems.

Methodology

Based on previous studies, by using the VORSH model, the threatened tourism ecosystem of Ramsar region with diverse landscapes including mountain, sea, forest, pasture, river, lake, agriculture, and urban was considered and evaluated. Then, the construction approach of an index system determined by the VORSH model including capacity, organizational structure, resilience, ecosystem services and the level of health and education of the residents has been used. Then, by weighting the indicators using fuzzy ANP, it proposed a new research mentality for the sustainable development of tourism.

Results and discussion

A wide range of ecosystem health Indexes are available in previous researches, but depending on the questions investigated in the research, the existing Indexes can be combined and complement each other in order to carry out holistic ecosystem health assessments and Used comprehensively. After studying various dimensions of tourism, the need to add some indicators was felt more and more, which was included in this research. Another important point in selecting Indexes is the availability of data for quantifying the relevant Indexes in appropriate spatial and temporal scales. More data can be extracted by modeling or suitable surrogates can be found for them. The importance of choosing and combining Indexes is because social, economic and land use data can provide valuable information regarding the effects of human actions on the state of ecosystems. Similar indicators in various researches can have different weights, which occurs due to the conditions governing the combined tourism systems. The quality of selected and produced indicators is more important than their quantity and finally all indicators are multiplied together. This means that an index may be moved among the existing dimensions based on the researchers' point of view; Therefore, the nature of the model used and its considered dimensions are very important. The results show that the indicators of the number of incoming tourists and the presence of natural, cultural and historical attractions in the power dimension, the rate of land use change from ecological to non-ecological, population density and visitor density and the distance to the tourist area in the structure dimension, The four environmental protection zones have the greatest impact on the health of the tourism ecosystem in the dimension of resilience and preservation of biological and aesthetic diversity in the dimension of ecosystem services.

Conclusion

This research is a new attempt to conduct a comprehensive health assessment and analysis of the tourism ecosystem using the VORSH model. According to the most effective indicators of this research, the carrying capacity of each tourist place should be considered in order to maintain the quality and quantity of attractions and to reduce the pressure on the ecosystem by distributing the burden of tourism. The uneven distribution of tourists among different regions shows the shortcomings of the tourism industry in developing countries, which has to strengthen the infrastructure of tourism and culture through education and extensive advertising. Effective factors in the tourism development of a region include natural, economic and social power, as well as the existence of facilities and infrastructure. After identifying the most effective indicators on the health of the tourism ecosystem of the studied area, measures can be taken to improve the health of that ecosystem. Consciously creating an attraction such as a handicraft market based on the values in the past customs of the region and the needs of tourists is one of the ways that can cause the distribution of tourists; Because it leads to the formation of positive feelings in people and has had a positive impact on the development of sustainable tourism since the past.