Environmental impact assessment of tourism development in Lut desert using DPSIR and TOPSIS models

چکیده مقاله

Tourism is known to be one of the most diverse economic activities in the world. Desert ecosystems are now considered as one of the important natural tourist attractions owing to their unique ecological potential and socio-economic capabilities and values, attractions, and unique features. Lut desert has also attracted a great deal of attention as a tourist destination. This is while t tourism development in the Lut desert cannot be easy due to its natural fragility. Therefore, the current research aimed to prioritize the impacts of tourism development in the Lut desert by integrating the driver-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) model and TOPSIS technique in order to formulate management strategies. DPSIR model was used to analyze different aspects of tourism impacts in terms of five components via a conceptual framework. The values of severity and importance of each of the identified impacts were prioritized using the TOPSIS technique and according to experts’ opinions. The results showed that the decline in culture and customs (0.80) and the indicators of cultural and social dichotomy (0.31) were the most important impacts. Land use changes for the sake of infrastructural development (0.27) and activation the government diplomacy (0.26) were found to be the next most important priorities. Tourism development in the Lut desert has positive and negative impacts; therefore, in order to develop tourism with minimal damages to the nature (ecotourism), it is necessary for the planners and managers to consider the relevant policies. Finally, this article proposed strategies conducive to accurate and wise development of tourism, such as codified educational programs to the tourist and host community, planning, and appropriate land use management for infrastructural development.