The development of sustainable tourism in Turkey

College of Tourism and hotel management

-   Why I choose this topic / why this topic interests me?

Tourism is one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world, which has expanded dramatically over the last 50 years and has become a global industry. ‘Although it has been underestimated until quite recently, tourism has long been a central component of the economic, social and cultural shift that has left its imprint on the world system of cities in the past two decades’ (Dumont 2005). According to World Trade Organization (WTO) statistics, there were a total of 693 million tourist arrivals across the globe in the 2002. Moreover, WTO is forecasting that by 2010 there will be over one billion arrivals.

At the European level, tourism is one of the biggest economic sectors and belongs to the largest key industries of the 21st century (Dumont 2005). European tourism accounts for 2/3 of global tourism (CoastLearn 2006), while the Mediterranean is the world’s number one tourist destination and the biggest tourism region in the world, accounting for 30% of international arrivals and 25% of receipts from international tourism (EEA 2001). Furthermore, the European Environmental Agency is predicting that the number of tourists in the Mediterranean countries is expected to increase from 260 million in 1990 (135 million in the coastal region) to somewhere between 440 and 655 million in 2025 (235 to 355 million in the coastal region). Turkey is European and Mediterranean country at the same time, where tourism is often seen as its economic future, since it contributes significantly to the GDP and the employment rates. Also, Turkey has joined the trend of a growing number of European cities and urban regions that are promoting the development of tourism in order to overcome the post-industrial crisis most of them are suffering (Dumont 2005).

This topic interests me, because nowadays Turkey is one of the most popular mass-tourism destinations, with it's growing number of tourists (for example (information is provided by ministry of culture and tourism of Turkish Republic. http://www.kultur.gov.tr) in 2006 the country was visited by 2905817 foreign people in august, in 2007 by 3384065 tourists, in 2008 by 3762136 people). Turkey is the destination to be developed, and sustainable tourism, (http://nrs.fs.fed.us) the tourism that combines high standards of quality with environmental constraints, tourists and local residents in a friendly and stimulating manner which would prove to be a better way to conduct tourism all over the world, is the best type of tourism to be developed, it is self-maintaining tourism, which is solving problems without a harm to its surroundings. The World Commission of Environment and Development (WCDE) introduced the concept of sustainable development in the Brundtland Report in 1987, defining sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs”.

 In this project I am going to investigate whether the tourism of today has bad influence and whether this bad influence can be overcome with the development of sustainable tourism/

-   What is my academic background of choosing this topic and how I justify it?

As my academic background is Tourism and Hotel business, I've decided, that I am more familiar with tourism market sector, so this title has been chosen for this reason.

-   Which people will benefit from my research?

Travel agencies and tourism companies, who works with this particular destination, will benefit from my research. . In addition, they can use my research for their work, because it will be very useful for all of them. What is more, tourists can take in consideration my research and start thinking what really they want from sustainable tourism in the future. On this way, they can help tourism managers to develop tourism and the hospitality industry. Moreover, I think that academics should pay attention for my project as well. Because they will know, for example, what kind of new technologies can be needed. Also, my assignment can be used by the students who will finish their education in nearest future and are planning to work in tourism industry. They can propose innovations in tourism in which they are going to work.

Planning the research

What I should think about, while planning my research? I should, firstly, set the questions to be answered, secondly, to understand how and where to find the information, and, thirdly, to think about the ways this collected data must be analyzed.

Statement of objectives and hypothesis to be examined

In my Research I will examine 2 hypothesis questions

= 1.Is the number of visitors growing as The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is focused on the development of sustainable tourism?

With its objectives:

+Examination of sustainable tourism in Turkey

+Examination of The Ministry of Culture and Tourism strategy

+Examination of tourist growth

=2. Is Turkey becoming a world brand in tourism and has the possibility of becoming the major destination in the list of the top five countries receiving the highest number of tourist?

With its objectives:

+Examination of the world brands in tourism

+Examination of possibilities and opportunities of Turkey to become the major description in the list of the top 5.

The limitation of the hypothesis question:

Time - as tourism in general is a very complex activity, and Turkey has been experiencing rapid development of tourism in the last 10 years, to make a detailed analysis of the tourism sector, its impacts and contribution to the sustainable development of the community, a lot of time is required. ............