International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Volume 118 No. 20 2018, 4105-4111 ISSN: 1314-3395 (on-line version) url: http://www.ijpam.eu Special Issue ijpam.eu “GIS: A TOOL FOR ECO-TOURISM SITE SELECTION IN SOUTH KERALA” Shamnas S, Aishwarya G S and Arun K Department of Commerce and Management Amrita School of Arts and Sciences Amrita Vishwa Vidhypeetham, Amritapuri Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Abstract--The paper focuses on identification and prioritization of ecotourism sites using geo spatial application in southern part of Kerala. The 8 thematic factors such as physiographic regions, slope, distance from - road, water bodies, community villages, tourist spots, archeological spots, urban centers - are used in identifying the potential eco tourism spots in the study area. Weighted overlay method in GIS platform has been employed in this study. In this method weights have been given to the factors of each layers depending upon their influence in suitability of an eco tourism spot. The resultant sites has been categorized as „very low‟, „low‟, „moderate‟, „high‟ and „very high‟. The results have been validated by overlaying the present ecotourism spots to the suitable site which shows 90% accuracy. GIS and remote sensing can be a valuable tool for the decision makers, planners in the tourism industry for getting baseline information regarding the eco tourism spots. Key words: Southern; Kerala; GIS, Remote Sensing; Weighted Overlay method I. INTRODUCTION Tourism is thought to be the one of the world's biggest and growing businesses and which contribute in excess of twelve percent of India's GDP and furthermore give work chance to a large portion of the adolescent. Tourism has helped in progressing the quality of life of regional people of various destinations which also helps in promoting the distinct cultural, art and crafts of the destination which also creates an employment opportunity of the local community. The Ministry of Tourism is the nodal office for the improvement and advancement of tourism in India and keeps up the "Incredible India" campaign. Consistently the numbers of remote traveler are expanding in India which brings about the expansion in the outside trade. India is a nation known for its rich treatment to all guests, regardless of where they originate from. It helps the people to move from their busy and stressful life and have a peaceful time. It has also created awareness of preserving the environment and their natural resources and promotes tourism in various destinations. The three major impact of tourism are social, economic and cultural impact. It has been observed in the last decades that there is a positive relationship between the tourism development and the environment quality which had involved in the evolution of eco tourism and responsible tourism. Kerala is likely the greenest place ever observe, it is one of the 10 heavens on the planet. The coconut palms, the red tiles houses, the endless lakes and shorelines will stay durable impressions to any guest. While the worldwide visit industry has changed itself into verticals, the State keeps on offering bundles bound to only a comfortable stay and touring. Kerala is known for its diversity, for example as cattle grazing, temple festivities, ethnic cuisine, making of pottery, handloom weaving and anything that relates to a traditional past certainly amuse the foreign tourist. The traditions and culture changes in the cities of Kerala. Ecotourism is fretful with conservation and sustainable development of the natural environment by implementing less impact tourism and concerned with the benefit of local communities by producing revenue, and it has to be both ecologically and of socially aware. It is one of ever growing sectors of the tourism industry worldwide. Many researchers across the world has researched on the topic GIS and remote sensing in significant their problem statements and arriving to the results (Wei, 2012, Chen, 2007, Bunruamkaew and Murayam, 2011, Ling and Qaing ,2011, Fung and Wong, 2007, et al., 2008, Feng and Morrison, 2011, Alkheder, 2015, Xu et al., 2015, Ahmadi et al., 2014). Only a very few studies have been conducted in this topic in Kerala (Venugopal, 2014, Venugopal and Ajaykumar, 2013). This study, hence, inculcates GIS, Remote Sensing to identify potentially suitable ecotourism sites in Southern part of Kerala. Parameters like physiographic regions, slope, distance from - road, water bodies, community villages, tourist spots, archeological spots, urban centers were considered and analyzed. Prioritization and ranking of these parameters were generated using weightage overlay technique and finally potentially suitable ecotourism areas were mapped and selected. 4105 International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Special Issue II. STUDY AREA Figure 1 The districts that have been selected for study are Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alleppey. Thiruvananthapuram otherwise called Thiruvanthapuram is the capital and the biggest city of the Indian territory of Kerala. Thiruvananthapuram is situated on the west bank of India close to the outrageous south of the terrain. Alluded to by Mahatma Gandhi as the Evergreen city of India, the city is portrayed by its undulating landscape of low seaside slopes. It is named a Tier-II city by the administration of India. The mean greatest temperature 35 °C and the mean least temperature is 20 °C. Subsequently, it doesn't encounter particular seasons. Sree Anantha Padmanabha Temple, Kerala Museum, Kowdiar Palace, Chacha Nehru Childrens Park, Kanaka Kunnu Palace, Shanghmukham beach, Neyyar dam and Ponmudi are some of the famous tourist attractactions. Kollam also known as Quilon. It is famous for its beaches and trade hubs. It is known for cashew preparing and coir producing. Ashtamudi Lake is viewed as the southern portal to the backwaters of Kerala and is a conspicuous vacationer goal at Kollam.The nearest airport is the Trivandrum International Airport, Trivandrum, Kerala which is about 67 Kilometer from Kollam. The normal temperature ranges from 22 to 35 degrees Celsius. Palaruvi Falls, Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve, Kollam Beach, Thevally Palace, , Ashtamudi lake, Cheena Kottaram, Thenmala and Thangassery light house are some of the major tourist attractions of Kollam district. Pathanamthitta is in the southern zone of Kerala, India.. Pathanamthitta is situated on the bank of the river Achankovil. The district is known for the plantation of rubber and wood industries. It is famous for pilgrimage tourism as it has most of the pilgrimage sites. Almost 4 million pilgrim tourist come to Pathanamthitta every year during the Sabrimala season. Pathanamthitta has a direct atmosphere, pretty much the same as is common somewhere else in Kerala. Yearly temperatures extend between 19 °C and 38 °C . The region encounters three particular climate conditions: summer, winter and the rainstorm. Sabrimala, Kakki Reservoir, Konni Elephant Cage, Perumthenaruvi Water Falls, Mannadi Dalawa Memorial, Vijnana Kala Vedi Cultural Centre and Muloor Smarakom are the tourist attractions of Pathanamthitta district. Alappuzha otherwise called Alleppey, is the authoritative central station of Alappuzha District of Kerala condition of southern India. In 2016, Center for Science and Environment appraised Alappuzha as the best cleanest town in India took after by Mysore and Panaji. The Backwaters are the most mainstream vacation destination in the state Kerala. The temperature in winters goes between 18° C to 33° C. The winter season traverses between the months from December to February. The months extending from August to September and February to March are best time to visit the city. Vembanad Lake, Alappuzha Beach, Pathiramanal lake, Ambalapuzha Sri Krishna Temple, Krishnapuram Palace and Revi Karuna Karan Memorial Museum are the famous tourist attractions. 4106 International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Special Issue III. MATERIALS AND METHODS Table 1. Shows the thematic layers used for finding out the potentials site for eco-tourism and their data source. Thematic Layers Data Source Slope SRTMDEM Archeological Spots Google Earth Community Villages Kerala State Land Use Board Tourist spots Google Earth/ Land Information System/ Reports on Tourism from Kerala Water body Google Earth Roads Google Earth/ Open Street Maps Urban Centers Google Earth/ Open Street Maps Wetland Kerala State Land use Board/ Land Information System A. Prospective ecotourism sites The prospective ecotourism locations are chosen on the basis of eight criterions and their respective weightage for each factors is given based upon the influence on ecotourism. Weighted sum overlay analysis is done in the GIS platform with all the thematic raster layer that allows a linear combination of probability weights of each thematic raster map. ArcGIS 10.2 is the GIS software used. Inverse distance weighted interpolation method has been used in creating the surfaces. Distances from each theme are done by using the Euclidean distance toolset in spatial analysis tool of GIS software. Raster Calculator is used in doing the weighted sum overlay analysis. IV. RESULT AND DISCUSION The distance from street/road is one of the basic factor to be considered while mulling over the site reasonableness on account of eco tourism spots. It is essential for the visitor to achieve the traveler goal is an imperative factor. The weightage is given as depicted in Table 2 and the map is shown in Figure 2. While we consider a place we need to think about the wellspring of income for the neighborhood and their sustainability and manageability. The weightage is given in the Table 3 and the corresponding map in Figure 3. Another essential criteria to be considered is the existing traveler spots while finding or setting off to a visitor spot. The weightage is given in the Table 4 and the map in Figure 4. The distance from urban spots is another critical factor that must be considered as it gives the assets and systems to the tourism exercises. The weightage is given in the Table 5 and Figure 5 depicts the distance from urban spots map.