The Development of Geotourism in the Akhlamed Valley in Eastern Iran Through the Evaluation of Geomorphosites

Geotourism or land tourism is considered a relatively new concept in tourism industry that has gained a considerable growth and attention in the recent decade. Geotourism can have the most harmony with sustainable development and all economic, cultural, social and environmental dimensions. The present paper aims to study an attractive geomorphotourism site around the city of Mashhad. To this end, several Geomorphosites resulting from the erosion process were selected for tourism development and their capabilities were evaluated. To evaluate geomorphotourism development potentials of the study area, Pereira method was used and field data collection and evaluation were conducted applying a Geographical Information System (GIS). By evaluating the scientific index of the selected Geomorphosites, it was found that dolines obtained the highest score followed by rock walls. For the complementary index, the highest score belongs to the rock walls and Akhlamad main waterfall, respectively. For the protection index, dolines, rock walls, and karst valleys had the highest scores, respectively. For the usage index, rock walls obtained the highest score followed by Akhlamad River. Scientific findings of the documentary and field studies showed that Akhlamad has significant potential for adventure and educational tourism, and mountain and winter sports due to the development of morphological-hydrological landscapes. The results also indicated that to make optimal use of the geotourism potential of Akhlamad, should be considered.