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Journal of Resources and Ecology >

2023 , Vol. 14 >Issue 2: 321 - 330

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2023.02.010

Tourism Resources and Ecotourism

Study on the Exploitation Potential of Ecotourism in Leshan City based on a Multi-Hierarchy Grey Method

  • WANG Dongliang , 1 ,
  • LIU Qiongying 2 ,
  • HU Shiwei , 1, *
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  • 1. Management Department, Technical College of Chengdu University of Technology, Leshan, Sichuan 614000, China
  • 2. Leshan Vocational and Technical College, Leshan, Sichuan 614000, China
*HU Shiwei, E-mail:

WANG Dongliang, E-mail:

Received date: 2022-03-01

  Accepted date: 2022-05-28

  Online published: 2023-02-21

Supported by

The Science & Technology Department of Sichuan Province(2021DJR0229)

The Leshan Philosophy and Social Science Planning(SKL2021A03)

The Leshan Philosophy and Social Science Planning(SKL2020B16)

The Sichuan Tourism Development Research Center(LY21-07)

The Leshan Science and Technology Bureau(20ZRKX007)

The Leshan Science and Technology Bureau(21ZRK190)

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Abstract

Leshan City is rich in ecological tourism resources. The evaluation of their potential for exploitation can provide scientific guidance for the development of ecological tourism resources in the city. Based on the analytic hierarchy process and grey theory, seven counties in Leshan City were selected as the basis for constructing the evaluation system of ecotourism resource exploitation potential from four aspects: tourism resource conditions, tourism resource exploitation conditions, tourism resource development benefits and tourism resource value. Through the comprehensive evaluation and sorting of the development potential of ecotourism resources in the city, the order of priority for the exploitation of ecotourism resources in the region was determined. According to the results of the model calculations, the exploitation potentials of ecotourism resources in the seven counties and districts in Leshan City could be divided into three levels. Among them, Muchuan County, Emeishan City, Ebian Yi Autonomous County and Mabian Yi Autonomous County are the first-level ecotourism resource exploitation zones; Jinkouhe District is at the second-level; and Jingyan County and Jiajiang County have the least exploitation potential as the third-level ecotourism resource exploitation zone. The results of this evaluation are approximately consistent with the actual situation of Leshan City, which indicates that the evaluation of the exploitation potential of ecotourism resources in this region based on the multi-hierarchy grey method can provide a theoretical basis for helping Leshan City to build characteristic ecotourism products, so that it can serve as a new development anchor for building a globally important tourist destination.

Key words： multi-hierarchy grey method; ecotourism; exploitation potential; Leshan City

Cite this article

WANG Dongliang , LIU Qiongying , HU Shiwei . Study on the Exploitation Potential of Ecotourism in Leshan City based on a Multi-Hierarchy Grey Method[J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2023 , 14(2) : 321 -330 . DOI: 10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2023.02.010

1 Introduction

The concept of “ecotourism” was first put forward in 1983 by H. Ceballos-Lascurain, a Mexican expert and special adviser to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (Li, 2020). In China, ecotourism has also received a great deal of attention in the past decade. Taking Beautiful China as an important goal in building a powerful socialist country with Chinese characteristics in the new era, the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that from 2020 to 2035 “the ecological environment is fundamentally improved, and the goal of Beautiful China is basically realized”. With the rise of policy enhancements, industry focus and tourist group awareness, ecotourism will become another bright name card in China’s tourism development process.
The development of ecotourism is inseparable from the development of ecotourism resources. However, extensive and disruptive events will occur from time to time in the development process of ecotourism in China, and even cause some negative examples of ecological environmental destruction. Therefore, constructing an evaluation index system and model scientifically and evaluating the exploitation potential of ecological resources accurately (Ding, 2012) are the important prerequisites and foundation for realizing the harmonious development of ecological resource protection and exploitation.
Since the concept of “ecotourism” was put forward, domestic and foreign experts and scholars have conducted relevant research from different perspectives. For example, the ecotourism resources of Keele National Park in Uganda were analyzed and the development potential of recreation and ecotourism in the nature reserve was elaborated (Obua, 1997). Another study analyzed 65 ecotourism resources in the central coastal region of Western Australia and constructed a resource evaluation method combining qualitative and quantitative methods (Prisken, 2001). The development potential of ecotourism resources was evaluated in rural areas of northern Zambia from three aspects: rural tourism resources, facilities and government support (Taylor and Bandathole, 2013). An empirical study was conducted on the potential of ecotourism resources in Yancheng coastal wetlands, Jiangsu Province, with resources, markets, environment and development conditions as the evaluation indexes (Wang et al., 2007). An evaluation system for the development potential of hot spring tourism resources was constructed from the three aspects of the value of hot spring resources, the environment and comprehensive development conditions in seven regions of Tibet (Zhong et al., 2009). The coastal wetlands in northern Shandong Province were taken as the research object, and a multi-hierarchy grey analysis method was used to evaluate and analyze the development potential of ecotourism resources in this area (Lü et al., 2011). Taking the western provinces of China as an example, an evaluation index system of ecotourism development potential was constructed from the three aspects of resources, market and support (He, 2015). The advantages and potential of ecotourism resource development was evaluated in Henan Province by combining the location quotient method with the Delphi method and weighted summation method (Luo, 2016). A grey correlation model was used to analyze and evaluate the sustainable development of marine ecological resources (Gao et al., 2020). Scholars have carried out theoretical research and presented practical discussions on the construction of various ecological resource development potential evaluation systems, which provide theoretical and operational reference for the scientific and orderly utilization of ecotourism.
In summary, since the concept of “ecotourism” was put forward in the 1980s, scholars at home and abroad have conducted research on the evaluation of ecotourism resource development potential from different aspects. The research methods have been mainly based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative model analysis. Scholars have paid more attention to the correlations between market development potential and ecological environmental factors, and the evaluation index systems have focused on resource conditions, resource development conditions and resource development benefits. At present, with the guidance of national policies, research on ecotourism is still a hot topic for many scholars. On the basis of previous achievements, taking the ecological resources of Leshan City as an example, this study constructed a quantitative evaluation model for the development potential of ecotourism resources, in order to provide theoretical support and practical reference for the development of ecotourism in this region.

2 Study area

Leshan City is located in the central part of Sichuan Province and the southwestern part of Sichuan Basin. The terrain is high in the southwest and low in the northeast. The mountainous area of 8530 km2, accounting for 66.5% of the city’s total area, is mainly distributed in the city border Mount Emei, Ebian, Jinkou River, Mabian, Muchuan located in the southwest, Liangshan Plateau and Sichuan Basin transition zone. Located near 29 °N latitude, the city is in a subtropical climate zone, with an average annual temperature between 16.5 ℃ and 18.0 ℃. With the characteristics of four distinct seasons, as well as abundant rainfall, water and heat in the same season, the annual average frost-free period is more than 300 days. Leshan is rich in ecological resources. Among the plants in Leshan, there are many ancient, relic and rare plants. There are 39 species of rare and endangered protected plants in Leshan, accounting for 52.7% of the total of 74 such species in the province. Mount Emei is the most representative species-rich area, with 1452 species of seed plants belonging to 585 genera and 141 families. There are 925 endemic plants in China, 338 endemic plants in Sichuan and 107 endemic plants on Mount Emei (Leshan Municipal Local Records Compilation Committee, 2001).
Leshan has an abundance of tourism resources, and has been described as “The view of the world’s landscape lies in Shu (Sichuan), and the victory of Shu is called Jiazhou (Jiazhou was the name of Leshan in ancient times)”. In recent years, around the strategic goal of building “the world’s important tourist destination”, Leshan has continued to dig deeply into the regional advantages of tourism resources and the iterative update of tourism products has accelerated. But compared to the development of cultural and tourism resources, the domestic ecotourism resources have gained less attention. Therefore, it is necessary to scientifically evaluate the development potential of ecotourism resources in this city, in order to give full attention to the ecotourism resources, create a new attraction core for tourism destinations, enrich the attraction elements of the world’s important tourism destination, realize the scientific and orderly exploitation of ecotourism resources, and promote the harmonious and sustainable development of the economic and ecological benefits of these tourism destinations.
Fig. 1 Map of the administrative regions of Leshan City, Sichuan Province, China

3 Research method

3.1 Construction of the evaluation index system

The grey evaluation method can better reflect the grey relationship between various factors in a complex evaluation system and has greater capabilities for identification (Hu, 1996). In view of the limitations of a single analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for evaluating the development potential of ecotourism resources, such as the influence of the experience factors of the judge, this study took into account the comprehensiveness and accuracy of the evaluation index, and ultimately constructed the comprehensive evaluation index system of ecotourism resource exploitation potential by using AHP combined with the grey evaluation method (Table 1).
Table 1 Evaluation index system of ecotourism resource exploitation
First grade indexes Second grade indexes Third grade indexes
Exploitation potential of ecotourism resources (V) Conditions of tourism resources
(V1)		 Fauna
Flora
Geology and topography
Air quality
Climate
Water body
Conditions of tourist resource exploitation (V2) Natural accessibility
Market accessibility
Traffic condition
Resource composition
Construction conditions
Scenic area capacity
Financing conditions
Government policy and residents’ acceptance
Tourism resource exploitation benefit (V3) Social benefit
Economic benefit
Environmental benefit
Tourism resource value (V4) Value of science popularization and scientific research
Value of ornamental and recreational features
Value of ecological culture

3.2 Determination of the index weights

Using a judgment matrix to determine the criteria (Table 2) (Wang and Li, 2015), the weight of each index at the same level compared to the index at the previous level is determined by pairwise comparisons. The relative importance between indexes is expressed by criteria 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 (the greater the value, the more important the index), with the numbers 2, 4, 6, and 8 representing the intermediate values of the above adjacent judgments, and the importance of the latter compared with the former is represented by its reciprocal.
Table 2 Scores of relative importance of factors
Score Meaning
1 The same importance as the two indicators
3 The former is slightly more important than the latter in comparison with the two indicators
5 The former is more important than the latter in comparison with the two indicators
7 The former is much more important than the latter in comparison with the two indicators
9 The former is extremely important relative to the latter in comparison with the two indicators
2, 4, 6, 8 The intermediate values of the above adjacent judgments
In this study, the expert evaluation method was used to determine the evaluation sample matrix, and five experts were invited to score the evaluation indexes according to the grading standards. The weight of each index was obtained by a consistency test (Tables 3 and 4).
Table 3 Index weights of the secondary grade indicators
Secondary grade indexes Index weight Score of relative importance
Condition of tourism resources 0.236 1
Conditions of tourist resource exploitation 0.180 6
Tourism resource exploitation benefit 0.236 1
Tourism resource value 0.347 2
Table 4 Index weights of the third-grade indicators
Indicators Index weight Score of relative importance
Condition of tourism resources Fauna 0.080 8
Flora 0.080 8
Geology and topography 0.171 3
Air quality 0.150 8
Climate 0.217 0
Water body 0.299 4
Conditions of tourist resource exploitation Natural accessibility 0.101 5
Market accessibility 0.101 5
Traffic condition 0.183 3
Resource composition 0.175 5
Construction conditions 0.101 5
Scenic area capacity 0.061 8
Financing conditions 0.055 6
Government policy and residents’ acceptance 0.219 1
Tourism resource exploitation benefit Social benefit 0.159 3
Economic benefit 0.251 8
Environmental benefit 0.588 9
Tourism resource value Value of science popularization and scientific research 0.119 9
Value of ornamental and recreational features 0.272 1
Value of ecological culture 0.608 0

3.3 Establishment of the evaluation sample matrix

Using the five-level Likert scale as the scoring standard, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 were used to express “excellent”, “good”, “medium”, “poor” and “very poor” in evaluating the ecological tourism resources in different regions of Leshan City. The intermediate values of the evaluation are represented by 4.5, 3.5, 2.5, and 1.5. Several experts in relevant fields were invited to score the indicator Vij of region s, which was denoted as dijk(s), in which i is the second-level evaluation index, j is the third-level evaluation index, k is the k-th evaluation expert, and dijk(s) is the k-th expert scoring the j-th three-level evaluation index of the s resource point. The sample matrix for evaluating the development potential of ecotourism in region s is D(s):
D(s) =$\left[ \begin{matrix} d_{111}^{(s)} & d_{112}^{(s)} & d_{113}^{(s)} & \cdots & d_{11n}^{(s)} \\ d_{121}^{(s)} & d_{122}^{(s)} & d_{123}^{(s)} & \cdots & d_{12n}^{(s)} \\ d_{131}^{(s)} & d_{132}^{(s)} & d_{133}^{(s)} & \cdots & d_{13n}^{(s)} \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots \\ d_{ij1}^{(s)} & d_{ij2}^{(s)} & d_{ij3}^{(s)} & \cdots & d_{ijn}^{(s)} \\ \end{matrix} \right]$

3.4 Establishing the evaluation grey category

In determining the grey class of an evaluation object, the grade, number and whitening weight function of the evaluated grey class need to be determined (Shi, 2019). The evaluation grey series number is set as e, e = 1, 2,..., g, that is, there are g evaluation grey series. This study set g=5, so there are five evaluation grey levels, e=1, representing “very good”; e=2, representing “good”; e=3, representing “general”; e=4, representing “bad”; and e=5, representing “very bad”. The corresponding whitening weight functions are as follows:
$e=1,\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}{{f}_{1}}=\left\{ \begin{array}{*{35}{l}} \frac{1}{5}x,\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}x\in [05] \\ 1,\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}x\in (5,\infty ) \\ 0,\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}x\notin [0,\infty ) \\ \end{array} \right.$
$e=2,{{f}_{2}}=\left\{ \begin{array}{*{35}{l}} \frac{1}{4}x,\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} \begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}x\in [04] \\ -\frac{1}{4}x+2,x\in (4,8] \\ 0,\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} \begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}x\notin [08] \\ \end{array} \right.$
$e=3,{{f}_{3}}=\left\{ \begin{array}{*{35}{l}} \frac{1}{3}x,\begin{matrix} {} & {} \\ \end{matrix}x\in [03] \\ -\frac{1}{3}x+2,x\in (3,6] \\ 0,\begin{matrix} {} & {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} \begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}x\notin [06] \\ \end{array} \right.$
$e=4,{{f}_{4}}=\left\{ \begin{array}{*{35}{l}} \frac{1}{2}x,\begin{matrix} {} & {} \\ \end{matrix}x\in [02] \\ -\frac{1}{2}x+2,x\in (2,4] \\ 0,\begin{matrix} {} & {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} \begin{matrix} \begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix} \\ \end{matrix} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}x\notin [04] \\ \end{array} \right.$
$e=5,{{f}_{5}}=\left\{ \begin{array}{*{35}{l}} 1,\begin{matrix} {} & {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}x\in [01] \\ -x+2,\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}x\in (1,2] \\ 0,\begin{matrix} {} & {} \\ \end{matrix}\begin{matrix} {} \\ \end{matrix}x\notin [02] \\ \end{array} \right.$
Among them, fe is the corresponding grey whitening weight function, and x is grey number.

3.5 Calculation of grey evaluation coefficients

As for the evaluation index Vij, the grey evaluation coefficient of the s-th evaluated object belonging to the e-th grey evaluation category was calculated as:
$x_{ije}^{(s)}=\underset{k=1}{\overset{s}{\mathop{\mathop{\sum }^{}}}}\,{{f}_{e}}(d_{ijk}^{(s)}) (e=1, 2, 3, 4, 5)$
where i stands for the second-grade evaluation index, j stands for the third-grade evaluation index, e represents grey evaluation, $d_{ijk}^{(s)}$ is the k-th expert scoring the j-th third-grade evaluation index of the s-th resource point, fe is the corresponding grey whitening weight function, and $x_{ije}^{(s)}$ is the grey evaluation coefficient.

3.6 Calculating the weight vectors and weight matrix of grey evaluation

For evaluation indicator Vij, the grey evaluation weight of the evaluation index for the s-th evaluation region belonging to the e-th grey category is denoted as rije(s), and the weight vector is denoted as rijke(s):
$r_{ije}^{(s)}=\frac{x_{ije}^{(s)}}{x_{ij}^{(s)}}$
$r_{ijke}^{(s)}=(r_{ijk1}^{(s)},r_{ijk2}^{(s)},r_{ijk3}^{(s)},r_{ijk4}^{(s)},r_{ijk5}^{(s)})$
where i is the second evaluation index, j is the third evaluation index, k is the k-th evaluation expert, e is the e-th evaluation grey, and s is the s-th evaluation area.
Therefore, the grey evaluation weight matrix of the second-level index Vij and the first-level index Vi\ in the s-th region accordingly is Rij(s) and Ri(s):
$R_{ij}^{(s)}=\left[ \begin{matrix} r_{i11}^{(s)} \\ r_{i12}^{(s)} \\ r_{i13}^{(s)} \\ \vdots \\ r_{ij5}^{(s)} \\ \end{matrix} \right]$
$R_{i}^{(s)}=\left[ \begin{array}{*{35}{l}} r_{i1}^{(s)} \\ r_{i2}^{(s)} \\ r_{i3}^{(s)} \\ \vdots \\ r_{ij}^{(s)} \\ \end{array} \right]$
Where $R_{ij}^{(s)}$ is the grey evaluation weight matrix for the three-level indicators, and Ri(s) is the weight matrix for the secondary indicators.

3.7 Multi-level comprehensive evaluation

Combined with the indicators of each level, the index of each level in the s region was comprehensively evaluated from the upper level to the bottom level.
Assuming Bij(s) is the comprehensive evaluation result of the third-grade indicators Vijk, then:
$B_{ij}^{(s)}={{x}_{ij}}\times R_{ij}^{(s)}=\left( b_{ij1}^{(s)},b_{ij2}^{(s)},b_{ij3}^{(s)},b_{ij4}^{(s)},b_{ij5}^{(s)} \right)$
Assuming Bi(s) is the comprehensive evaluation result of the second-grade indicators Vij, then:
$B_{i}^{(s)}={{x}_{i}}\times R_{i}^{(s)}=\left( b_{i1}^{(s)},b_{i2}^{(s)},b_{i3}^{(s)},b_{i4}^{(s)},b_{i5}^{(s)} \right)$
Since R(s) is the grey evaluation weight coefficient matrix of the first-level indicator Vi of the s-th region for each evaluation grey grade, and B(s) is the grey comprehensive evaluation result of the s-th region:
${{B}^{(s)}}=A\times {{R}^{(s)}}=\left( b_{1}^{(s)},b_{2}^{(s)},b_{3}^{(s)},b_{4}^{(s)},b_{5}^{(s)} \right)$

3.8 Reckoning of the comprehensive evaluation value

Combined with the evaluation requirements, the formula for calculating the comprehensive evaluation value of ecological tourism exploitation potential in the region is:
${{W}_{(s)}}={{B}^{(s)}}\times {{C}^{\text{T}}}$
where B(s) is the grey comprehensive evaluation result of the first-grade index V (as shown in the table 1) in the s region, and CT is the transposition of the value vector of each evaluation grade. Then, according to the size of the W(s) value compared with the gray level, the size of the ecotourism development potential of an ecotourism destination is judged.

4 Results and analysis

4.1 Development of the evaluation matrix

Five experts were invited to score the potential indicators of ecotourism resource exploitation in Muchuan County, Ebian County, Mabian County, Emeishan City, Jingyan County, Jiajiang County and Jinkouhe District of Leshan City according to the Likert scale, and thus the sample matrix was obtained. Setting the evaluation matrix of the k-th expert to the s-th region as D(s) (Jia et al., 2015), the seven regional development potential matrices were generated.
Each matrix shows the five experts’ scores according to the indexes in different areas. For example, matrix D (Muchuan) includes the entry $d_{111}^{\text{(Muchuan)}}=4.0$, which indicates that the first expert valued the first indicator (the fauna) in the first area (Muchuan) as 4.0.
D(Muchuan)=$\left[ \begin{matrix} 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 5.0 & 4.5 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.5 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 4.0 & 3.5 \\ 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 \\ 5.0 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 4.5 & 4.5 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\\end{matrix} \right]$
D(Ebian)=$\left[ \begin{matrix} 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 5.0 & 4.5 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 4.0 & 3.5 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 \\ 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.5 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\\end{matrix} \right]$ D(Mabian)=$\left[ \begin{matrix} 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 4.5 & 4.5 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.5 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 4.5 & 3.5 \\ 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 \\ 4.5 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.5 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\\end{matrix} \right]$ D(Emeishan) =$\left[ \begin{matrix} 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 5.0 & 4.5 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.5 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 \\ 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 \\ 5.0 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.5 & 4.5 & 5.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 \\ \end{matrix} \right]$
D(Jingyan) =$\left[ \begin{matrix} 3.5 & 3.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 3.5 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 \\ 4.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 \\ 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 \\ 4.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 \\ 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.5 \\ 3.0 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ \end{matrix} \right]$ D(Jiajiang) =$\left[ \begin{matrix} 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 \\ 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 \\ \end{matrix} \right]$ D(Jinkouhe) =$\left[ \begin{matrix} 3.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 4.0 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 3.0 & 4.0 & 3.5 \\ 3.5 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 4.0 & 3.5 \\ 3.0 & 4.5 & 4.5 & 3.5 & 4.0 \\ 3.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 4.0 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 4.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 4.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 3.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 \\ 4.0 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 3.0 & 4.0 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 4.0 & 3.0 \\ 3.5 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 4.0 & 3.5 \\ 3.0 & 3.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 & 4.0 \\ 3.5 & 3.5 & 4.0 & 3.5 & 3.5 \\ \end{matrix} \right]$

4.2 Calculation of grey evaluation coefficients and weight vectors

Taking Muchuan County as the first evaluation object and according to the former discussion, it’s e-th grey evaluation coefficient of the second-grade evaluation indicator V11 (the animals) is $x_{11e}^{(1)}$, and when e=1, the result is:
$x_{111}^{(1)}=\underset{k=1}{\overset{5}{\mathop{\mathop{\sum }^{}}}}\,{{f}_{e}}(d_{ijkp}^{(1)})={{f}_{1}}(4)+{{f}_{2}}(4)+{{f}_{3}}(4)+{{f}_{4}}(4.5)+$
${{f}_{5}}(4.5)=4.5$
Similarly, when e=2,$x_{112}^{(1)}=4.75$; when e=3, $x_{113}^{(1)}=3.05$; when e=4, $x_{114}^{(1)}=0$; and when e=5, $x_{115}^{(1)}=0$.
Therefore, the total grey evaluation coefficient of the ecotourism resource exploitation potential evaluation index V11 in Muchuan County was obtained by summing all indicator values that belong to the different evaluation grey types: $x_{11}^{(1)}=\underset{e=1}{\overset{5}{\mathop{\mathop{\sum }^{}}}}\,x_{11e}^{(1)}=12.3$.
For evaluation indicator V11, the expert’s grey evaluation weight of the evaluation index for Muchuan County belonging to the e-th grey category is denoted as $r_{\text{ll}e}^{(1)}$, which yields the following values: when e=1, $r_{111}^{(1)}=\frac{x_{111}^{(1)}}{x_{11}^{(1)}}=0.366$; when e=2, $r_{112}^{(1)}=0.386$; when e=3, $r_{113}^{(1)}=0.248$; when e=4, $r_{114}^{(1)}=0$; and when e=5, $r_{115}^{(1)}=0$.
Furthermore, taking the weight vector denoted as $r_{11}^{(1)}$: $r_{11}^{(1)}=\left( r_{111}^{(1)},r_{112}^{(1)},r_{113}^{(1)},r_{114}^{(1)},r_{115}^{(1)} \right)=(0.366,0.386,0.248,0,0)$.
The same argument could be made that the weight vectors are denoted as $r_{12}^{(1)}$···$r_{43}^{(1)}$, and thus the grey evaluation weight matrix of the second-level index $R_{11}^{(1)}$ was obtained.

4.3 Multi-level comprehensive evaluation

Weight vectors $B_{i}^{(s)}$ (s= 1, 2, 3, 4) were derived via a comprehensive evaluation of the secondary index Vi (i = 1, 2, 3, 4) as follows:
$B_{1}^{(1)}={{A}_{1}}\times R_{11}^{(1)}=[0]$
$B_{2}^{(1)}={{A}_{2}}\times R_{12}^{(1)}=[0]$
$B_{3}^{(1)}={{A}_{3}}\times R_{13}^{(1)}=[0]$
$B_{4}^{(1)}={{A}_{4}}\times R_{14}^{(1)}=[0]$
Finally, the grey evaluation weight coefficient matrix of the first-level indicator Vi of Muchuan County for each evaluation grey grade was obtained:
${{R}^{(1)}}=\left[ \begin{array}{*{35}{l}} B_{1}^{(1)} \\ B_{2}^{(1)} \\ B_{3}^{(1)} \\ B_{41}^{(1)} \\ \end{array} \right]=\left[ \begin{matrix} 0.348 & 0.385 & 0.262 & 0.015 & 0 \\ 0.346 & 0.397 & 0.252 & 0 & 0 \\ 0.353 & 0.392 & 0.255 & 0 & 0 \\ 0.398 & 0.391 & 0.224 & 0 & 0 \\ \end{matrix} \right]$
The result is:
${{B}^{(1)}}=A\times {{R}^{(1)}}=[0]$

4.4 Calculation and ranking of comprehensive evaluation values

By converting the different evaluation grey class values into vector $C=(5,4,3,2,1)$, the comprehensive evaluation result of the ecotourism development potential in Muchuan county is:
${{W}_{(\text{Muchuan})}}={{B}^{(1)}}\times {{C}^{\text{T}}}=[0]\times {{[5,4,3,2,1]}^{\text{T}}}=4.145$
Similarly, the comprehensive evaluation results of the other counties and districts were obtained:${{W}_{(\text{Ebian})}}=4.121$; ${{W}_{(\text{Mabian})}}=4.108$; ${{W}_{(\text{Emeishan})}}=4.227$; ${{W}_{(\text{Jingyan})}}=3.682$; ${{W}_{(\text{Jinkouhe})}}=3.902$; ${{W}_{(\text{Jiajiang})}}=3.253$
According to these calculation results, the sequence of the comprehensive evaluation values of ecotourism resource development potentials in Leshan City is:
${{W}_{(\text{Emeishan})}}>{{W}_{(\text{muchuan})}}>{{W}_{(\text{Ebian})}}>{{W}_{(\text{Mabian})}}>$ ${{W}_{(\text{Jinkouhe})}}>{{W}_{(\text{Jingyan})}}>{{W}_{(\text{Jiajiang})}}$

4.5 Evaluation results

According to the multi-level grey evaluation method, the exploitation potential of ecotourism resources can be divided into three levels, namely: ≥4 for first-level ecotourism resource development potential area, 3.8-4 for second-level ecotourism resource development potential area, and <3.8 for third-level ecotourism resource development potential area (Su and Li, 2019). According to the ranking of the comprehensive evaluation values for the seven counties in Leshan City, the corresponding ecotourism resource exploitation potential grades are assigned. Muchuan County, Emeishan City, Ebian Yi Autonomous County and Mabian Yi Autonomous County are the first-level ecotourism resource development potential areas with the highest priority development potential; Jinkouhe District is the second-class ecotourism resource development potential area with medium-level development potential; and Jiajiang County and Jingyan County have the lowest development potential, as the third-level ecotourism resource development zones. According to the above evaluation results, the service facilities of Emeishan City are much more established and the development projects are more abundant, so the priority for developing ecotourism is high. For Mabian County and Ebian County, with Renmuxin expressway and Ehan expressway coming into usage, their internal and external traffic conditions have been greatly improved and with a good ecological tourism development foundation, they have high priority development potential. There are abundant ecotourism resources in Jinkouhe District, but it has shortcomings in infrastructure development, which should be further developed according to the actual situation of the region. For Jiajiang and Jingyan, these two low-level exploitation potential counties need to do a good job in fundamental research, and they should keep a cautious attitude toward ecotourism development.

5 Discussion

5.1 Determining the new ideas for ecotourism resource exploitation in Leshan

Leshan is rich in cultural and tourism resources and has three world heritage sites, which forms the basis for Leshan to develop into a globally important tourism destination. The development of ecotourism is an important measure for enriching the elements of Leshan as a tourism destination. Leshan City can construct a world-class ecotourism destination around the strategy of “ecology +” and, more specifically, the development ideas of the four themes of “ecology + Buddhism mountain”, “ecology + Ancient city”, “ecology + Folk custom” and “ecology + Health care”. Therefore, focusing on the brand advantages of Mount Emei, the ecotourism resource projects of Mount er’e, Mount san’e, Mount da’e and Mount si’e should be deployed in order, thus highlighting the advantages of ecotourism on Mount Emei, creating an ecotourism growth pole of Leshan, and linking the world-class ecotourism resources such as “Heizhugou” in Ebian, “Dafengding” in Mabian and “Bamboo Sea” in Muchuan. The four development poles of Leshan ecotourism should be built, so as to drive the development of the relatively weak Jiajiang and Jingyan ecotourism, and form the integrated development of ecotourism in Leshan City. In addition, we should focus on the development strategies of “Great Emei” and “Great Bamboo Sea” mainly deployed by Sichuan cultural tourism, highlight the main core advantages of Leshan’s ecological resources, link the resources around Sichuan and Chongqing, actively take part in the integrated development of the Sichuan and Chongqing ecotourism area, and realize the sustainable development of ecotourism.

5.2 Constructing the new space for ecotourism development in Leshan

On the development sequence, the ecotourism development route of “one ring, two wings and multiple points” should be established. Taking Mount Emei-Muchuan-Mabian- Ebian-Jinkou River as the ring line, and taking “one mountain, one sea, one valley, one top and one canyon” as the core resources, Leshan City should focus on the development of ecotourism brands such as Great Emei, Muchuan Bamboo Sea, Ebian Heizhu Valley, Mabian Dafengding and Jinkou River Grand Canyon, which would radiate and drive the development of ecotourism in other parts of the city. This would promote the formation of a “point”, “line”, and “area” ecotourism spatial pattern. In addition, through the continuous optimization of the transportation network and service factor network, linking point into line and connecting line into surface, we can promote the basic construction of urban ecologically weak areas, accelerate the ecological restoration work, expand the ecological new format, expand the ecological industry chain, highlight the comprehensive benefits of ecotourism, and promote the sustainable development of ecotourism in Leshan City.

5.3 Establishing the new development direction of Leshan Ecotourism

Relying on the unique natural and geographical features of “Three Rivers converging and green lungs immersing the heart”, Leshan will adhere to the development concept of a Park City to build a new urban form of “green show Jiazhou and water run Leshan”. As a city with “revitalizing the city through tourism” as the keynote of urban development, focusing on the strategic positioning of “ecology+”, taking the new urban form of “people, city, environment and industry” as the harmonious and unified form, and taking the concepts of ecological priority and green development as the guides for Leshan’s future urban development, we will build a multi-modal urban development benchmark of “greenway, mountain and water, countryside, neighborhood, humanities and industry”, and also build an “ecological home” with green water, green mountains and beautiful residence. Rich ecological resources will also become the new business card of Leshan tourism.

5.4 Shaping the new business cards of Leshan ecotourism products

Leshan City is rich in ecotourism resources, focusing on landscape mountains, alpine lakes, primitive forests, the bamboo sea and other characteristic resources, and tapping into the development potential of eco-health, eco-vacation, eco-exploration, eco-research and other products. At the same time, in combination with the distribution of ecological resources in Leshan City, Emeishan City is the core for creating ecological health products. With the superior ecological environments of Mabian and Ebian counties, we should focus on the development of counterfeit products. For example, Jinkouhe District uses Jinkouhe Grand Canyon, Dawa Mountain and other resources to create characteristic eco-exploration tourism projects, while Jingyan develops wetland ecological research products around Yanxi Wetland. Taking the “four-dimensional” product matrix of “recreation, vacation, exploration and research” as its basis, we can create a new business card of Leshan eco-tourism products.

6 Conclusions

Taking Leshan City as an example and using a combination of analytic hierarchy process and grey system theory, this study constructed an ecotourism exploitation potential evaluation index system including one criterion layer, four system layers and 20 specific index layers, and evaluated the ecotourism development potentials of the seven counties and districts in Leshan City. Through this comprehensive evaluation, the order of ecotourism exploitation potential of the counties and districts in the city was determined. The results show that there are obvious gradient differences in the levels of ecotourism exploitation potential in the different regions of Leshan City. Emeishan City, Mabian County, Ebian County and Muchuan County are rich in ecotourism resources and have ideal infrastructure, so they belong to the first-class ecotourism potential exploitation zone. Therefore, this region is the area where Leshan City should focus on carrying out ecotourism projects. Jinkouhe District is rich in ecotourism resources, but its basic conditions are slightly insufficient, so it belongs to the secondary ecotourism potential exploitation zone. Jiajiang County and Jingyan County belong to the third-level ecotourism potential development zones based on the generally poor grade of their ecological resources and the interference of certain industrial production factors to the development of ecotourism. However, with the further promotion of environmental remediation and ecological restoration in this area, their development potential will be improved accordingly. According to “the 14th Five-year Plan” tourism integration development plan, Leshan will do a good job at ecological tourism development in the future. It will lead the eco-tourism development in Leshan City with the concept of the whole regional tourism, and truly achieve the coordination between ecology and industrial development. Of course, because the factors affecting the development of ecotourism are very complex, the index elements selected in this article are not necessarily comprehensive. For example, the index does not consider the natural disasters in the Leshan mountainous area. Therefore, constructing the index elements more reasonably and scientifically, and improving the evaluation index system, need to be supplemented and further developed in future research.

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