The location of Tourist Resorts in the Central Alborz Protected Area with a Sustainable Development Approach

An important part of Iran's ecotourism capabilities is located in protected areas however, limited use of this feature has been made to empower the regions. This research seeks sustainable development of the region through the limitation of usable areas and the location of tourism resorts. Therefore, using the modified ecological model of land use capability for tourism and its integration with socioeconomic, infrastructural and legal indicators affecting the location of tourism resorts in GIS software, tourism destinations in the central Alborz protected area were located and mapped. The results show that 86.3% of the region has adequate environmental and social power for tourism, 12.1% of which is the best option for ecotourism. The main focus of tourism is around the eastern and northeastern parts of the region. Final destinations are categorized in terms of performance at four levels: local, regional, national, and international. The international level has the most frequency with 80.02 percen