Geospatial Intelligence in Hotel Site Planning: A Decision Support Framework

The process of choosing a hotel site is a very important project for businesses in the hospitality industry and, consequently, for every investment, the extent of market coverage and longevity. Conventional selection of sites is largely subjective, lacks the potential to incorporate spatial data and multi-criteria evaluation, and therefore achieves suboptimal decision-making in geographically or environmentally complex areas. This work tackles the problem by developing and implementing a powerful, data-driven strategy involving the utilization of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology combined with a Multi-Criteria Decision Support System (MCDSS). The study takes on the ecologically and scenically abundant Indian state of Sikkim as the study context for development, due to its great tourist opportunities and the need for sustainable and scientifically informed infrastructure development. This methodology utilizes quantitative and spatial analysis. The high-resolution spatial data layer comprising accessibility of road networks, proximity of tourist attractions, slope, elevation, and existing land use/land cover, were pre-processed and standardized, these layers were used as base-line decision criteria. With ArcGIS 2.0 software, Researchers integrated the Multi-Criteria Decision Support System (MCDSS), in which a weighting method, often the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) or Weighted Linear Combination (WLC), was employed (not specified by MCDSS, but inferred through discussion). This integration enabled researchers to develop spatial models for modelling and displaying a composite Hotel Site Suitability Map. This step involved defining the extent of weights between criteria based on expert testimony and which factors would have more or less salience for the hotel growth in Sikkim setting. The Weighted Overlay of the ranked and weighted criteria was combined using ArcGIS 2.0 to obtain a continuous suitability scale that classified the study area towards areas of highly suitable, moderately suitable, marginally suitable, and unsuitable land for hotel development. The suitability map that is produced becomes a visible, measurable, scientifically acceptable decision tool for decision makers, minimizes the extent of subjectivity and risk from traditional approaches. The result suggests optimal locations that satisfy the need for financial viability with respect to the environmental and accessibility measures and would thus facilitate sustainable tourism development in Sikkim. This study shows the high effectiveness of integrating GIS and MCDSS as a robust spatial decision support system for complex land use planning problems in tourism.