Assessment methods of recreational potential of water objects

Abstract

The article proposes a methodology for assessing the recreational potential of water objects and their coasts. Such an assessment makes it possible to identify territories and water areas in which maximum concentrations of natural properties useful for recreational activities are localized. This is important when making investment decisions. The evaluation method proposed by the authors is based on a point approach, which allows combining difficultly comparable properties of aquatic (and near-Aquatic) geosystems. Evaluation criteria for the methodology are selected using the expert method. For this purpose, a group of international experts in the field of recreational geography was involved in the study. The ranking of criteria by a degree of priority was carried out using the hierarchy analysis method (and using the Expert Choice software). As a result, 27 of the most significant criteria were selected, allowing evaluation of the water body (with its coastal zone) in terms of its suitability for beach-bathing, balneological, hunting and fishing recreation, eco-Tourism, as well as physical and landscape-Aesthetic properties. The received score on all indicators allows carrying the estimated water object to this or that rank of usefulness for the organization of recreational activity with the help to the corresponding scale of ranging.