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Dive sites which are home to various forms of marine life, unique structures and corals have become the main attraction for scuba divers. Divers normally choose the most attractive diving sites by visiting dive centers or getting referrals from other divers. However, there is problem in conventional subjective judgments where no standard measures have been considered. As a result, the judgments on dive site attractiveness may satisfy some divers but not others. To avoid these uncertainties, this research innovatively developed the world’s first index model for the attractiveness a dive site. Eight factors have been carefully selected, namely visibility, current stability, uniqueness of underwater scenery, coral health, the immensity of the coral reef, diversity and density of marine life. Then, these identified factors were ranked and assessed by using an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Evidential Reasoning (ER). Finally, all dive sites are indexed so it can be compared with others for better decision-making. To test the applicability of this proposed model, 22 dive sites in Perhentian Island were successfully assessed, indexed, and mapped. Terumbu Tiga (T3), Sail Rock and Tokong Laut were indexed as the top three dive sites in Perhentian Islands. The results also showed that the most profound factor that determined the attractiveness of a dive site was the diversity of its marine life followed by the diversity of its coral species, and the uniqueness of its underwater scenery. Practically, this model can be applied and widely used for indexing all dive sites in the world based on decision-makers’ preferences. It is expected that this index model will benefit divers, dive centers, marine parks, and related agencies by providing a new information that can be used in marine tourism. |
