EVALUATION OF TOURIST

DEVELOPMENT ALTERNATIVES
AREAS IN GULF OF MORROSQUILLO
(COLOMBIA), USING GIS AND DECISION
SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Raul Ulloa Herrera

Maria del Mar Rendon Orduz
 Introduction
•The high population in coastal areas of the world is a
pressure factor for the natural resources in these zones
(UNESCO, 1983).
•In Colombia exists occupation tendency (to live and for
tourism), contamination and quick use of coastal resources;
But the country has not a good planning.
•The Gulf of Morrosquillo has some environmental and
socioeconomic problems, much of them, due to tourist
expansion, specifically in Municipality of Tolú.
 Study Area
• The study area is located in the coast of the Caribbean Sea, in the
northwest part of Colombia, in south America. This area includes the
municipalities of San Bernardo del Viento, San Antero and Santiago
of Tolú.  

Santiago
de
Tolú

Delta
Tinajones
República de
Isla Bahía
de
Ciénaga
la Colombia
Fuerte Cispat San Caiman
San á Antero era
DEPARTAMENT
O DE
Bernardo SUCRE
del Viento DEPARTAMENT
O DE
Punta CORDOBA
Rada

Area de estudio comprendida entre: Punta Rada (departamento deCórdoba) y Tolú (departamento de Sucre).
 Problematic

• In the Gulf, a complex environmental problem exists:

Deteriorate and transformation of ecosystems, changes in the
coast line for erosion and sedimentation (natural dynamic),
pollution, damage of infrastructure, among others. Tourist
pressure and bad planning of this activity cause some of these
harms.
 
.
 Objective

To evaluate which of the alternatives proposed by the three

municipalities is the best for tourist development.
Summary of the evaluation criteria
CRITERIA CRITERION MAPS INDICATOR EVALUATION

La nd cover Ecologica l importance of the

e a ch cla s s in the La nd cove r
ma p
Environme nt Eros ion and
protection cos t Leve l of coa s ta l e rosion

Be ach a re a Be ach a re a
e xclus ion conse rva tion
Low s uita ble

S ocial Touris t s taff

Dis ta nce from the Mode ra te s uita ble

principa l town
Cove r % of public
Infra structure s e rvice s
a va ila ble Dis tance from the High s uita ble
principa l roa d

Dis ta nce from the be a ch

Dis ta nce from the
La nd cos t principa l roa d
Economic
Dis ta nce from the
principa l town

Municipal
capacity for Existence of tourist
tourist development plans
development
 Flowchart of the procedure
Environme ntal,
Ge neration of
s ocia l and
e conomica l GIS
crite rion layers Ge ogra phica l
(va lue maps )
da ta ba s e Informa tion
S ys te m
P olygon ma p of the
three alterna tive s Ove rlaying: as s e s s me nt
(S oftwa re :ILWIS )
of the e ach criteria in
te rms of occupie d a re a
in e a ch a lte rna tive

Ge neration of the
e ffe ct table

S ta nda rdiza tion

(Goa l a nd ma ximum)
De cis ion S upport
S ys te m Weight a s s ignme nt
(S oftwa re :DEFINITE)
(pair wis e compa ris on)

Eva luation

Ranking of the a lte rna tive s

S e ns itivity a na lys is

Fina l de cis ion and remarks

 Criterion maps

Land cover Beach erosion Beach exclusion

% of tourist staff Infrastructure available

N
low suitable
moderate suitable
high suitable

Municipal capacity for tourist development

Land cost
 Results • The best area for tourist development is
the municipality of Santiago of Tolu,
however observing the weight sum of each
approach.
Result 0.65 0.54 0.52
•Santiago of Tolu has an important weight
in the social part, since manpower qualified
0.94 for the tourist activities exists.
Environment 0.51 • San Bernardo fulfills the environmental
0.39
requirements, such as low coastal erosion
1.00
and vegetable covering with low ecological
importance.
Social
0.19 • San Antero is important economically
0.09
considering that the land cost is low and in
0.67
this multicriteria study that sub criteria was
0.59 0.56
Economic more important that the municipal capacity
for tourist development.
Santiago de Tolu

San Bernardo
San Antero
 Analysis of Sensibility

•Santiago of Tolu is the best option, but in the future San Antero and San
Bernardo options should be overcome it.
•San Antero and San Bernardo will be more attractive because it has
landscapes with less ecological importance and has not drastic beach
erosion problems.
 Conclusion

• The multicriteria analysis was good to make a good

idea about the area for tourist development, however
we consider that can be kept in mind other kinds of
criteria in the social part, since in Morrosquillo Gulf
the life quality is low.
• Also, according to our results the good area for
tourist development is Santiago of Tolu, but we
suggest to formulate and to implement an unique
plan for tourist development in the Gulf, that integrate
the tree municipalities.