IDENTIFYING THE ECOTOURISM SUITABILITY SCORE FOR MARINA BEACH AND ELLIOT'S BEACH OF CHENNAI COAST, TAMIL NADU, INDIA.

ABSTRACT

At the Chennai Coast in Tamil Nadu, India, research is done. Finding out whether Marina Beach and Elliott's Beach are suitable for ecotourism is the study's main goal. For the research using the ecotourism suitability index methodology, land use, land cover, erosion, accretion, beach type, beach width, proximity to bus stop, proximity to train station, and suspended sediment load have all been taken into account. The suitability index of eco tourism is assigned into 4 (four) classes, which are Class S1 (Highly suitable), Class S2 (Quite Suitable), Class S3 (Suitable with condition) and Class N (Not Suitable). Result of analysis indicates that coast area of Marina Beach and Elliots beach area comes in the class of Highly suitable (S1) by score total of 129 or 95.5 % and 116 or 85.9 % respectively. According to the research, Marina Beach has a sand feature as a land use land cover, 213 metres of beach width, good clarity (500 mg/L), is located 361 metres from a bus stop and 681 metres from a train station, has moderate erosion, and has not experienced any accretion. The beach type is white sand. Likewise, Elliots Beach has a sand feature as a land use land cover, with 222 metres of beach width, good clarity (600 mg/L), 642 metres from the bus stop, and 2351 metres from the railway station, which is high. There is moderate erosion and no accretion, and the sand is of the beach type, which is white. Marina beach has high tourism suitability index as compared to Elliot's beach. By considering marina beach, all the eight parameters are considered to be ne whereas Elliot's beach has far away accessibility this is the main reason for lowering the tourism suitability.