Evaluation of Forest Park Experience Quality for Sustainable Ecotourism: Based on FAHP-TOPSIS Method

Forest parks are expected to balance ecological protection with high-quality ecotourism experiences, yet quantitative, multi-dimensional assessments at the regional scale remain limited. This study evaluates ecotourism experience quality across 37 national forest parks in Shaanxi Province, China, using a five-dimensional, 32-indicator framework (science popularization, landscape esthetics, ecological resources, cultural resources, and supporting conditions). Indicator weights were elicited through the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), and park performance was ranked via TOPSIS; key constraints were diagnosed using an obstacle degree model. Results show that landscape esthetics received the highest criterion weight (0.245), followed by ecological resources (0.215) and supporting conditions (0.195). The mean experience score across parks was 0.559, with high-quality parks concentrated in the Guanzhong region. Obstacle analysis indicates that insufficient cultural resource protection and interpretation, inadequate public service facilities, and weak science-education functions are the most persistent barriers to improving experience quality. The proposed FAHP–TOPSIS–obstacle framework supports benchmarking and priority setting for sustainable management and targeted investments in forest parks.

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Publication Details

Journal
Forests
Published
2026-03-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/f17030341
Primary Topic
Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Evaluation of Forest Park Experience Quality for Sustainable Ecotourism: Based on FAHP-TOPSIS Method

Z K Zhang, K. Daniel Yu, Xiaodong Kang, Liming Bo et al.
Forests
Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research
article

Evaluation of Forest Park Experience Quality for Sustainable Ecotourism: Based on FAHP-TOPSIS Method

Z K Zhang, K. Daniel Yu, Xiaodong Kang, Liming Bo, Yongshuai Wang
article en

Abstract

Forest parks are expected to balance ecological protection with high-quality ecotourism experiences, yet quantitative, multi-dimensional assessments at the regional scale remain limited. This study evaluates ecotourism experience quality across 37 national forest parks in Shaanxi Province, China, using a five-dimensional, 32-indicator framework (science popularization, landscape esthetics, ecological resources, cultural resources, and supporting conditions). Indicator weights were elicited through the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), and park performance was ranked via TOPSIS; key constraints were diagnosed using an obstacle degree model. Results show that landscape esthetics received the highest criterion weight (0.245), followed by ecological resources (0.215) and supporting conditions (0.195). The mean experience score across parks was 0.559, with high-quality parks concentrated in the Guanzhong region. Obstacle analysis indicates that insufficient cultural resource protection and interpretation, inadequate public service facilities, and weak science-education functions are the most persistent barriers to improving experience quality. The proposed FAHP–TOPSIS–obstacle framework supports benchmarking and priority setting for sustainable management and targeted investments in forest parks.

ForestsVol. 17(3)
Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology (CN), Xi'an International Studies University (CN), Chang'an University (CN), Wuhan University (CN), Virtual Technology (United States) (US)
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 35%
Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research
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Evaluation of Forest Park Experience Quality for Sustainable Ecotourism: Based on FAHP-TOPSIS Method — Z K Zhang, K. Daniel Yu, et al. · Forests (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS