Potential Site Selection for Eco-Tourism : A Case Study of Four Blocks in Bankura District Using Remote Sensing and GIS Technology, West Bengal.

Bankura district in West Bengal is a strong need to studying ecotourism, as part of an alternative form of tourism for the growth of low impact tourism in the area and for its natural ecosystem maintenance as well as for the benefit of local population. Ecotourism can have many components that can broadly be categorized into three: Natural, Cultural and Educative components. The aim of this paper is thus to identify potentially suitable sites for ecotourism in the surroundings of Bankura mainly based on the Natural components of ecotourism. Even factor, namely: Land use-land cover, Soil, Elevation, Slope, Vegetation map, Road net-work map, Drainage map and also Temperature and Rainfall were considered to determine the suitability of an area for ecotourism.