COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE NATURAL TOURISM POTENTIAL OF THE FERGANA VALLEY BASED ON GIS

Authors

Keywords: Fergana Valley, natural tourism potential, subregion, integrated assessment, GIS, entropy, cross-border tourism, natural geographical indicator

Abstract

The three national parts of the Fergana Valley were compared through 14 natural geographical indicators in a unified GIS framework. The indicators were organised into geomorphological, climatic, hydrographic and biological groups, with weights derived from research synthesis and Shannon entropy. The Uzbek part performs strongly in hydrographic and climatic conditions, the Kyrgyz part in biological resources, and the Tajik part in geomorphological balance. The comparison supports treating the valley as a cross-border tourism region whose natural advantages complement one another.

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