Potential ecotourism site suitability evaluation for sustainable natural resource management in Kafta Sheraro National Park (KSNP), north-western Tigray, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Kafta Sheraro National Park is endowed with richest biodiversity and physical resources. These resources have a great potential contribution to the development of ecotourism. However, so far there have been no well-identified and mapped potential ecotourism sites. This study is aimed to identify potential ecotourism sites using a combination of Geographic Information System and Analysis Hierarchy Process method. In this paper, an integrated geospatial baseline data, such as biophysical features, wildlife, topography, climate, culture, and accessibility, were considered as main independent factors. Eleven criteria were designed based on 22 discussions with experts, as well as literatures, intensive field surveys, satellite imageries, and exiting thematic maps. The overall analysis result indicates that 27.63% of the area was highly suitable, 35.49% moderately suitable, 26.22% marginally suitable, and 10.66% not suitable. Most of the highly suitable areas lie in the western, north western, and some parts of the south eastern of the park. But, the moderately suitable areas are found in the central and southern parts of the park. Model area under the curve in the training data is 86.15%. Therefore, the output of this study can use as a basis for evaluating the suitability ecotourism development by governmental policy makers.