Assessment of ecotourism prospects in the North-Western Himalayas using multi-criteria decision making

Adyan Ul Haq; Simran Bharti; Fayma Mushtaq; Majid Farooq

doi:10.1007/s11355-025-00680-7

Assessment of ecotourism prospects in the North-Western Himalayas using multi-criteria decision making

Adyan Ul Haq, Simran Bharti, Fayma Mushtaq^*, Majid Farooq

^*Corresponding author for this work

Applied Research Center for Environment and Marine Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The North-Western Himalayas, including the Kashmir Valley, are experiencing environmental degradation due to concentrated tourism and other developmental activities. This study aims to assess the prospects of ecotourism in the region using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approaches viz Fuzzy-Analytical Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy-_AHP) and Analytical Hierarchy Process- Technique for Order by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (AHP-_TOPSIS) based on four major criteria’s such as topographic (T_c), climatic (C_c), landforms (L_c) and proximity (P_c). The ecotourism potential zones were classified into five suitability revealed that significant proportion of Kupwara district has high potential for ecotourism as 49.45% and 57.19% is under the high to very high suitability class as per Fuzzy-_AHP and AHP-_TOPSIS, respectively. The suitability map were validated using receiver operating characteristic—area under curve (ROC-AUC) analysis which was found to be 0.95 and 0.88 for Fuzzy-_AHP and AHP-_TOPSIS, respectively, indicating the higher reliability of Fuzzy-_AHP over AHP-_TOPSIS.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	845-871
Number of pages	27
Journal	Landscape and Ecological Engineering
Volume	21
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-025-00680-7
State	Published - Oct 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) under exclusive licence to International Consortium of Landscape and Ecological Engineering 2025.

Keywords

AHP
Ecotourism suitability
Kashmir valley
Multicriteria decision making (MCDM)
SDG-15

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology
Nature and Landscape Conservation
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1007/s11355-025-00680-7

Cite this

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abstract = "The North-Western Himalayas, including the Kashmir Valley, are experiencing environmental degradation due to concentrated tourism and other developmental activities. This study aims to assess the prospects of ecotourism in the region using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approaches viz Fuzzy-Analytical Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy-AHP) and Analytical Hierarchy Process- Technique for Order by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (AHP-TOPSIS) based on four major criteria{\textquoteright}s such as topographic (Tc), climatic (Cc), landforms (Lc) and proximity (Pc). The ecotourism potential zones were classified into five suitability revealed that significant proportion of Kupwara district has high potential for ecotourism as 49.45\% and 57.19\% is under the high to very high suitability class as per Fuzzy-AHP and AHP-TOPSIS, respectively. The suitability map were validated using receiver operating characteristic—area under curve (ROC-AUC) analysis which was found to be 0.95 and 0.88 for Fuzzy-AHP and AHP-TOPSIS, respectively, indicating the higher reliability of Fuzzy-AHP over AHP-TOPSIS.",

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AU - Bharti, Simran

AU - Mushtaq, Fayma

AU - Farooq, Majid

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) under exclusive licence to International Consortium of Landscape and Ecological Engineering 2025.

PY - 2025/10

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N2 - The North-Western Himalayas, including the Kashmir Valley, are experiencing environmental degradation due to concentrated tourism and other developmental activities. This study aims to assess the prospects of ecotourism in the region using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approaches viz Fuzzy-Analytical Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy-AHP) and Analytical Hierarchy Process- Technique for Order by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (AHP-TOPSIS) based on four major criteria’s such as topographic (Tc), climatic (Cc), landforms (Lc) and proximity (Pc). The ecotourism potential zones were classified into five suitability revealed that significant proportion of Kupwara district has high potential for ecotourism as 49.45% and 57.19% is under the high to very high suitability class as per Fuzzy-AHP and AHP-TOPSIS, respectively. The suitability map were validated using receiver operating characteristic—area under curve (ROC-AUC) analysis which was found to be 0.95 and 0.88 for Fuzzy-AHP and AHP-TOPSIS, respectively, indicating the higher reliability of Fuzzy-AHP over AHP-TOPSIS.

AB - The North-Western Himalayas, including the Kashmir Valley, are experiencing environmental degradation due to concentrated tourism and other developmental activities. This study aims to assess the prospects of ecotourism in the region using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approaches viz Fuzzy-Analytical Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy-AHP) and Analytical Hierarchy Process- Technique for Order by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (AHP-TOPSIS) based on four major criteria’s such as topographic (Tc), climatic (Cc), landforms (Lc) and proximity (Pc). The ecotourism potential zones were classified into five suitability revealed that significant proportion of Kupwara district has high potential for ecotourism as 49.45% and 57.19% is under the high to very high suitability class as per Fuzzy-AHP and AHP-TOPSIS, respectively. The suitability map were validated using receiver operating characteristic—area under curve (ROC-AUC) analysis which was found to be 0.95 and 0.88 for Fuzzy-AHP and AHP-TOPSIS, respectively, indicating the higher reliability of Fuzzy-AHP over AHP-TOPSIS.

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Assessment of ecotourism prospects in the North-Western Himalayas using multi-criteria decision making

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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