Abstract: Introduction and Objective: Rural ecotourism is a process that has existed for a long time with its own forms in order to provide the psychological, cultural, social and economic needs of humans and is one of the growing indicators. Therefore, today, rural ecotourism has become one of the main levers of economic and social development in many regions of the world. This process in different regions should be based on sustainable development in order to protect the historical and cultural heritage of the region along with the rational use of natural resources and also protect the desired nature. Therefore, before formulating strategies for the development and implementation of economic and social programs, the geographical survey of the region and the recognition of its environmental capabilities and then determining the ecological potential of the land, with the aim of continuous exploitation with the least destruction and preservation of resources Natural is an inevitable necessity. Therefore, rural ecotourism has a special place and remarkable growth among different types of tourism, and we have witnessed the rapid expansion of rural ecotourism activities all over the world in the last 20 years. Also, it is expected that this will be added. But considering the importance of nature protection, planning and management, rural ecotourism based on scientific principles is one of the necessary approaches in the process of achieving sustainable development and preventing waste of time and capital. Material and Methods: The purpose of this study is identification and customization rural ecotourism criteria and indicators in a descriptive-analytical method based on the Delphi questionnaire completion by using the opinion of experts and specialist in this field. Therefore, 44 rural ecotourism experts and specialists answered the Delphi questionnaire in three phases, which it includes a set of criteria and indicators of rural ecotourism extracted from various sources. In this research, the standard deviation index and Kendall's coordination coefficient were used to reach a consensus among Delphi members, that is, to converge their opinions. In this study, in order to investigate the internal stability of the questionnaire questions, Cronbach's alpha coefficient reliability measurement technique was used. Results: Analysis of the findings of the study has identified 4 criteria and 54 indicators for rural ecotourism. Finally, 4 criteria and 44 indicators were customized and prioritized to evaluate rural ecotourism. The results of prioritizing rural ecotourism indicators using the Delphi method showed that in terms of environmental, social, economic and technical criteria, the indicators of the presence of green spaces, forests, pastures, wetlands and rivers, and etc; architectural style and handicrafts, clothing and foods; the presence of local rural markets and the presence of religious, historical, ancient, pilgrimage, artificial, cultural and social places and attractions have respectively been assigned the highest priority among other indicators of rural tourism. Conclusion: These criteria include environmental, economic, social and technical criteria. The results of prioritization rural ecotourism criteria showed that technical and environmental criteria with an average of 4.37 and 3.94 had the first and second priority respectively. Therefore, it is suggested to pay more attention to the criteria and indicators with high priority of rural ecotourism in management plans for the implementation of rural ecotourism projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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