This study identifies the following factors as indicators of suitability within the land ecosystems of Surat
Thani Province context: landscape/naturalness, wildlife, topography, accessibility and community characteristics.
The evaluation for ecotourism sites was conducted based on the nine chosen criteria namely: visibility,
land use/cover, reservation/protection, species diversity, elevation, slope, proximity to cultural sites,
distance from roads and settlement size (Table 2).
The factors and criteria set up were chosen according to experience, experts’ opinions and information
from various sources. Knowledge acquisition has been accomplished through discussions with experts of
related fields of study, surveying of authenticated literatures and analysis of historical data.