Determination of suitable areas for astropark: Example of Eskisehir

The interest in astrotourism, which is one of the nature-based tourism or rural tourism types, is increasing in the world and in our country. Astrotourism briefly includes activities such as examining and photographing the sky. These activities can be carried out by professionals as well as amateur participants. With this study, it is aimed to determine suitable places for the establishment of an astroparkin Eskişehir. Apart from the natural and cultural tourism attractions of Eskişehir, it is thought that the development of astrotourism will increase the tourism potential of Eskişehir. Tourism activities will be diversified as the tourists coming for astrotourism also benefit from other tourism opportunities in the region. In the study, suitable areas for the astropark to be established in Eskişehir were determined byapplying weighted overlap analysis with Geographic Information Systems. The Analytical Hierarchy Process was applied to determine the weight values of the parameters used in the weighted overlay analysis. As a result of the study, it was seen that there are suitable areas for astropark. Suitable areaswere noted as the north, southwest and southeast of Eskişehir. Especially in the central districts and other city centers where light pollution is high, there are unsuitable areas.