Identification of threatening factors of ecotourism and its required infrastructures for the sustainability of natural resources in Kohdasht county

Hajipoor, Samira; Yeganeh, Hassan

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Volume 13, Issue 26 (9-2025)

PEC 2025, 13(26): 13-27

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Identification of threatening factors of ecotourism and its required infrastructures for the sustainability of natural resources in Kohdasht county

Samira Hajipoor ^*

, Hassan Yeganeh²

Department of Rangeland and watershed Management, University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Gorgan, Gorgan, Iran, samirahajipoor1400@gmail.com , Samirahajipoor1400@gmail.com
2- yeganeh@gau.ac.ir

Abstract: (878 Views)

Ecotourism is a relatively new approach to nature-based tourism that has gained attention in recent years. The aim of the present study, conducted over two years (2021–2022) in Kohdasht County, was to identify areas suitable for ecotourism and to determine their feasibility based on existing capabilities and required infrastructure, as perceived by experts familiar with the region. For this purpose, a list of potential ecotourism sites was first compiled and visited in the field. In the next step, interviews were conducted with managers, employees, and experts from relevant organizations familiar with ecotourism, using a structured questionnaire based on a Likert scale. The questionnaire was designed around three main axes: infrastructure and required facilities, threatening factors, and management considerations for ecotourism development. To compare the responses, the normality of the data was first checked using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. Since the significance level of the data was less than 5%, Friedman’s test was used to compare the ranks of the factors.The research results showed that Kohdasht County has significant potential for ecotourism due to its diverse geological conditions, topography, climate, and vegetation. Additionally, the rural and nomadic lifestyle, strategic geographical location, and presence of ancient monuments provide strong support for the development of ecotourism in the area. Based on this, the key natural attractions with ecotourism potential were identified in the county, including forests, mountains, caves, rivers, springs, tourist villages, rural gardens, rangelands, nomadic life, and Shirez Strait. The results obtained from Friedman’s test revealed that the factors threatening ecotourism in these areas, ranked by importance, including absence or lack of environmental infrastructure (e.g., parking facilities, sanitation systems), inadequate road quality, improper disposal of waste and plastic residues, weak mobile networks and limited internet access, neglect and degradation of forest, rangeland, and vegetation cover, lack of legal and institutional support, unregulated planting by tourists in natural areas. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to mitigate these threats and enhance the sustainability of ecotourism in Kohdasht County.

Article number: 2

Keywords: Forest park, Sustainability of natural resources, Tourism village, Kuhdasht

Full-Text [PDF 1452 kb] (494 Downloads)

Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2024/04/27 | Accepted: 2024/10/14 | Published: 2025/09/15

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Hajipoor S, Yeganeh H. Identification of threatening factors of ecotourism and its required infrastructures for the sustainability of natural resources in Kohdasht county. PEC 2025; 13 (26) : 2
URL: http://pec.gonbad.ac.ir/article-1-975-en.html

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