Land use suitability analysis of rural tourism activities: Yenice, Turkey

In this study, a land use suitability analysis was conducted for rural tourism in the Yenice district, located in the north-west of Turkey. As part of the research process involved dividing the area in question into landscape units using GIS and RS techniques. A suitability rating for tourism activities in each landscape unit was obtained by following through the steps of the ELECTRE method, individually repeated for each landscape unit. It is considered that the 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-degree suitable activities were most relevant in the rating of the nine different tourism activities. Therefore assessments were made on the basis of these first three ranks. As a result of the analysis, from the 1st-degree suitable activities identified, the first three were found to be mountaineering, trekking and wildlife observation. From the 2nd-degree suitable activities, the first three were flora observation, trekking and hiking, and from the 3rd-degree suitable activities, the first three trekking, orienteering and mountaineering. •Rural tourism can be an important tool for rural development.•Sustainable use of landscapes is essential to the success of rural tourism.•Land use suitability analysis are important and required for tourism management.•Land use suitability maps for rural tourism were produced by integrating GIS, RS, MCA.•The 1st-degree suitable activities are mountaineering, trekking and wildlife observation.