Sustainability in ecotourism requires comprehensive participation of the host community in ecotourism projects. Community-based ecotourism (CBET) is an approach in which the local community acts as the founder and promoter of ecotourism and it takes part in its development. This paper tried to locate community-based ecotourism as a development model in Siyahoo rural district. The paper wanted to answer: where are the most suitable ecosystems in Siyahoo rural district for developing CBET according to economic, socio-cultural, institutional-physical and environmental indices. This is an applied and developmental research, which followed a descriptive method in data collection and analyzed them quantitatively. The statistical population included the local communities, tourists, experts and elites in the tourism sector. Data were collected from four tourist rural areas (Siayhoo, Kharsin, Banglayan, and Sikhoran) in the Siyahoo rural district using interviews and questionnaires by Purposive Quota-Sampling. Participants included 370 people from the local community, 359 tourists from the Siyahoo rural district and 15 experts and elites. SPSS 22 was used to analyze the data, and the SWOT technique to determine the CBET development strategies. The findings of the assessed elements (including economic, socio-cultural, institutional-physical and environmental indices) showed that Bangelayan village had the highest capability to develop community-based ecotourism in Siyahoo.
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