Assessment model of nature-based touristic motives in the Ovcar-Kablar Gorge (Serbia)

One of the initial stages of the tourist development is the assessment of the elements or the entire area in order to identify priorities that will continue to be presented and economically valorised through specific measures and activities. This is possible to achieve by using different models of evaluation with a tendency to more qualitative characteristics express quantitatively. The idea is to develop a universal model that can be applied to different areas in order to be comparable with each other, so decision-makers knew exactly which one of the areas has greater potential to develop tourism. This paper presents the model of evaluation of nature-based touristic motives that was created by combining several adapted methodologies. The proposed model is applied to the area of Ovčar-Kablar Gorge (Western Serbia). After the process of evaluation, it turns out that natural elements of Ovčar-Kablar Gorge have moderate importance to the development of tourism and that with concrete measures in the field of nature protection and planning of the tourist area, this status can be improved.