A fuzzy decision-making model for enhancing sustainable tourism investments in climate-vulnerable destinations

Muhammad Shahbaz; Serhat Yüksel; Serkan Eti; Hasan Dinçer; Shoh-Jakhon Khamdamov

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125151

A fuzzy decision-making model for enhancing sustainable tourism investments in climate-vulnerable destinations

J Environ Manage. 2025 Apr:380:125151. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125151. Epub 2025 Mar 29.

Authors

Muhammad Shahbaz¹, Serhat Yüksel², Serkan Eti³, Hasan Dinçer⁴, Shoh-Jakhon Khamdamov⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China; GUST Center for Sustainable Development (CSD), Gulf University for Science and Technology, Hawally, Kuwait. Electronic address: muhdshahbaz77@gmail.com.
² School of Business, İstanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey; Department of Economics and Management, Khazar University, Baku, Azerbaijan; Clinic of Economics, Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC), Baku, Azerbaijan. Electronic address: serhatyuksel@medipol.edu.tr.
³ IMU Vocational School, İstanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: seti@medipol.edu.tr.
⁴ School of Business, İstanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey; Department of Economics and Management, Khazar University, Baku, Azerbaijan; Clinic of Economics, Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC), Baku, Azerbaijan. Electronic address: hdincer@medipol.edu.tr.
⁵ Faculty of Economics, Mamun University, Khiva City, Uzbekistan; Аlfrаgаnus University, Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Tаshkent Stаte University of Economics, Tаshkent, 100002, Uzbekistаn. Electronic address: xamdamov_shohjaxon@mamunedu.uz.

PMID: 40158395
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125151

Abstract

This study aims to determine key investment strategies for the performance improvements of the sustainable tourism investment projects. First, the significance levels of experts are computed via dimensionality reduction algorithm. Next, the indicators for sustainable tourism investments are weighted by spherical fuzzy Markov chain. Finally, strategy alternatives for climate-vulnerable destination selection are ranked with spherical fuzzy combinative distance-based assessment (CODAS). Moreover, our ranking results are also compared by using spherical fuzzy ranking technique by geometric mean of similarity ratio to optimal solution (RATGOS). Our findings denote that the improvement of technological infrastructure is determined as the most important factor in the development of sustainable tourism investments. Another important issue in the development of sustainable tourism investments is the determination of environmental priorities. On other side, the optimal strategy alternatives for climate-vulnerable destination selection are financial supports for climate changing and ecological evaluations for renewable energy sources.

Keywords: Dimensionality reduction algorithm; Spherical fuzzy sets; Sustainable tourism; Tourism investment projects.

MeSH terms

Algorithms
Climate Change
Conservation of Natural Resources*
Decision Making*
Fuzzy Logic
Tourism*