Spatial prioritization of ecotourism areas under land-use/land-cover change (Chignahuapan and Zacatlán, Mexico): Data and raster layers

This dataset provides land-use/land-cover (LULC) maps, forest-cover transition layers, deforestation-risk surfaces, and ecotourism priority maps for two municipalities in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, Mexico (Chignahuapan and Zacatlán). All rasters are single-band GeoTIFF files with 30 m spatial resolution in UTM Zone 14N (EPSG:32614), accompanied by two CSV tables summarizing LULC areas and ecotourism priority areas.LULC maps are available for 2000, 2011, and 2022, classified into five classes (urban, water bodies, livestock, forest, and agriculture). A categorical transition map encodes changes between 2000 and 2022, including forest-to-urban, forest-to-livestock, and forest-to-agriculture conversions.Deforestation-risk layers were generated using Random Forest models and represent the probability that forest pixels mapped in 2000 transition to non-forest classes by 2022. Probability maps are provided for each transition, together with combined categorical risk maps (null, low, medium, and high risk). Ecotourism priority rasters for hiking, picnicking, and mountain biking overlay deforestation risk with ecotourism suitability. The suitability information itself is available in a companion Figshare dataset (López-Paniagua et al., 2025; DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.30736046) and is not redistributed here; both datasets form part of a broader research effort on ecotourism and forest landscapes in central Mexico.The dataset is intended to support replication of the main analyses reported in the associated research article and to facilitate reuse of the resulting maps in spatial planning, conservation, and ecotourism management. Only aggregated spatial layers and summary tables are provided; no individual-level or household data are included. Methodological details are described in the associated research article; this dataset description focuses on basic file-level information.