Geographical Research

During past sixty years، the world has seen significant changes in the ways of travel from one place to another. In this time period، not only travel mode، but also tourism destinations، motivation and the number of these travels have been changed. One of those changes is the specific kind of tourism called ecotourism which has had so rapid growth in the recent years and has become one of the important phenomena in the tourism industry. This kind of tourism respects deeply to people، tourism places and things to be visited and it emphasizes specially on the protection of natural and cultural resources، the involvement of local people in planning processes and the creation of welfare for those people. With the diversity of ecological and cultural resources، located in the North West of Iran، Urmia Township has many opportunities and strengths for investing in the field of ecotourism development. Investigating these strengths and opportunities and determining weaknesses and threats، the present study presents appropriate strategies for ecotourism development in this region. According to its aim، the current study is applied and in terms of research method is descriptive analytical، and survey. After bringing about general points and research framework، field study was done in order to gather information on the studied region and investigate the position and the way of tourism in the region. Generally، three questionnaires (tourist، native people، and specialists) were prepared for this study. To analyze data، Spss and SWOT model were employed. Findings show that Urmia Township، with the sum of 40 strengths and opportunities as advantages and with weight points of 3.13 and 2.82 for strengths and opportunities، respectively، has many potentials and capabilities for ecotourism development. However، the Township، with the sum of 19 weaknesses and threats as disadvantages and with weight points of 3.22 and 3.78 for weaknesses and threats، respectively، has serious challenges and problems in the face of its ecotourism. Furthermore، findings show that ecotourism development has great effects on the region’s economical development، and by planning correctly، using ecotourism attractions optimally and rationally، solving problems and weaknesses and using available opportunities، one can see economical development in the grounds of income، employment، diversity of economic activities and generally، the increase in the welfare of people residing in this township.