Ecotourism is known as a type of sustainable tourism that serves for both environmental conservation and community development. In order to decrease undesirable consequences of tourism and achieve an optimal tourism destination development, land planning and environmental evaluation is necessary. To evaluate ecotourism attraction of Abbasabad Wildlife Refuge, central Iran, four criteria, 18 sub-criteria and 31 indices were selected through comprehensive literature review. The identified criteria were then screened based on the extent and ecological conditions of the study area using Delphi technique. Finally, three criteria including physiographic (with sub-criteria of land-form, landscape and water resources), ecological (with sub-criteria of wildlife, land-cover and natural attractants), and socio-economic (with sub-criteria of facilities, access, conflicts, settlements and cultural-historical monuments) and incorporating a total of 22 indices were considered. Weighting, prioritizing as well as intensity of effectiveness and impact of the criteria were performed based on AHP and DANP methods. These indices were standardized using fuzzy functions and subsequently suitable zones for ecotourism were identified by weighted linear combination (WLC) and ordered weighted averaging (OWA) in GIS environment. The Key words : Ecotourism, Abbas Abad, Evaluation, Delphi method, weighted linear combination, arranged weighted average
