Zoning Phenomena and Geo-Tourism Attractions in Coastal Cities Using the GIS Technique: A Case Study of Noashahr and Chalous Cities

Nowadays tourism industry is developing and enjoys paramount importance and specific attraction due to the demand and need for geographic areas. In recent decades, the tourism industry has gone far beyond and entered a new realm of use and enjoyment of geo-tourism capabilities. Geo-tourism as a new word developed the role and significance of tourism industry and all countries attempt to take as much advantage of this industry as possible. Meantime, despite having highly significant potentials in industry, Iran has not been yet able to use such potentials efficiently. Hence in this paper we aim to identify the geo-tourism potentials in the coastal areas of the north part of Iran and as a case study, the cities of Noashahr and Chalous. This is an analytical-descriptive study using exploratory survey as a typically library research method through literature review and case studies such as interviews and questionnaires. GIS software was used to analyze the spatiallocation features of geo-tourism in the study area. Results show that the study area has potential capacities which can be operational zed and eco-tourism can be considered as one of the aspects of development in this area.