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Abstract
The use of low-carbon evaluation indices for tourist attractions facilitates the promotion of low-carbon tourism. However, balancing tourism and environmental considerations has become critical to the development of the tourism market. Compared with road vehicles, cable cars are environmentally friendly, convenient, and economical. This study presents a framework for evaluating cable car development projects on the basis of the following aspects: (a) determining guidelines for cable car stations and route layouts, (b) establishing a logical framework for assessing the feasibility of cable car systems, (c) identifying station assessment items, and (d) evaluating the assessment items for potential routes by applying the analytic hierarchy process. These aspects can facilitate executing thorough and pragmatic assessments of cable car development projects.
Keywords
Analytic hierarchy process, assessment framework, cable car
Date received: 8 September 2015; accepted: 9 November 2015
Academic Editor: Stephen D Prior
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted)
Introduction
In Taiwan, tourism is flourishing and ecotourism is progressively growing, and tour itineraries are increasingly focusing on mountainous and forest regions. Low-carbon tourism is an approach to cultivating sustainable tourism associated with a low-carbon economy. The core value of low-carbon tourism is to provide a highquality tourism experience that ensures that transportation, accommodation, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment are associated with low-carbon emissions and reducing pollution. The use of low-carbon evaluation indices for tourist attractions facilitates the promotion of low-carbon tourism.1 However, balancing tourism and environmental considerations has become critical to the development of the tourism market. Compared with road vehicles, cable cars are environmentally friendly, convenient, and economical.
Furthermore, cable cars can provide the following services.
1. Transportation alternatives and traffic alleviation. Cable car systems can overcome landscape barriers and directly connect tourist attractions and major transportation hubs. They can also be used to create new transportation routes, effectively replacing and sharing the burden of existing roads while expanding the capacity of transportation services.
2. Connection services between recreational hotspots. Cable cars can systematically connect hotspots and recreational resources, thus saving time and travel costs between hotspots, increasing journey flexibility, and diversifying recreational activities.
3. Outdoor scenery and recreation. Introducing cable cars can provide a completely new perspective for viewing scenery and enjoying recreational activities, enabling tourists to appreciate unique natural views and scenery from the air.