GIS based Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) for Ecotourism Site Suitability in South Kelantan, Malaysia

Abstract Ecotourism is an important part of sustainable tourism. Thus, the selection of the suitable sites is important in the development of ecotourism site. The objective of this study are to identify the criteria of the potential area for ecotourism and to develop a model to map the potential area of ecotourism and to map the suitable location of the ecotourism in South Kelantan. The criteria such as Land use, slope, elevation and proximity to road were selected following the guidelines and also from the previous study. The method used is Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and GIS. AHP technique were used to calculate the weightage for each of the criteria. At the end of this steps, the model of Site Suitable Area for Ecotourism Model (SSME) was produced. In this study, map of the site suitability area for ecotourism in South Kelantan were process and displayed in ArcGIS.