Applying Multi-Criteria Decision-Making in Prioritizing Strategies for Developing Protected Natural Areas and Their Ecotourism: the Case of Uvac, Serbia

Abstract

Ecotourism is considered a sustainable form of travel that is more environmentally beneficial than the concept of mass tourism. In this context, protected natural areas are considered an essential potential for ecotourism development, which is underpinned and driven by the preparation of strategies. This paper prioritizes ecotourism development strategies on the example of the Uvac Special Nature Reserve in the Republic of Serbia. The SWOT analysis is strengthened by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a particularly suitable method for strategic planning of an area. The first step of the combined SWOT-AHP method implied a SWOT analysis. Afterward, in the second and third steps, the weighting coefficients of individual elements within the SWOT group and then the weights of the groups were determined. In the final step, the ecotourism development strategies for this area were formulated, weighted by their efficiency coefficients, and ranked. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding and promotion of applying multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), i.e., the combined SWOT-AHP method, in prioritizing strategies for developing protected natural areas and their ecotourism.