ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Applying Multi-Criteria Decision-Making
in Prioritizing Strategies for Developing Protected
Natural Areas and Their Ecotourism:
the Case of Uvac, Serbia
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1
Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Belgrade, Serbia
2
Faculty of Management Zaječar, Zaječar, Serbia
3
Faculty of Geography, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Submission date: 2022-10-27
Final revision date: 2022-11-21
Acceptance date: 2022-11-22
Online publication date: 2022-12-23
Publication date: 2023-02-23
Corresponding author
Milica Dobričić
Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Belgrade, Serbia
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2023;32(2):1083-1090
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ABSTRACT
Ecotourism is considered a sustainable form of travel that is more environmentally beneficial
than the concept of mass tourism. In this context, protected natural areas are considered an essential
potential for ecotourism development, which is underpinned and driven by the preparation of strategies.
This paper prioritizes ecotourism development strategies on the example of the Uvac Special Nature
Reserve in the Republic of Serbia. The SWOT analysis is strengthened by the Analytic Hierarchy
Process (AHP), a particularly suitable method for strategic planning of an area. The first step of the
combined SWOT-AHP method implied a SWOT analysis. Afterward, in the second and third steps,
the weighting coefficients of individual elements within the SWOT group and then the weights of
the groups were determined. In the final step, the ecotourism development strategies for this area
were formulated, weighted by their efficiency coefficients, and ranked. This paper aims to contribute
to a better understanding and promotion of applying multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), i.e.,
the combined SWOT-AHP method, in prioritizing strategies for developing protected natural areas
and their ecotourism.