Реферат: The development of sustainable tourism in Turkey

(The World Tourism & Travel Council, http://www.wttc.org )

What helps Turkey to be in top 10 world tourism destinations? This country has good climatologic condition for tourism, this is the country of 3S (Sun, Sand, Sea), it has natural and historical environment, high bed capacity for tourists, high level of development in tourism industry, historical background and cultural heritage, the combination of tourism and urbanization, presence of plateau and village tourism and sports tourism, it’s internationally known tourism destination, there is high number of qualified employers in tourism, availability of underwater sports, developed social structure, intensive investments in education, sensitivity of the public to security issues, Turkey is providing cheap holiday opportunities, number of tourism facilities, high quality of food industry, available transportation facilities, developed infrastructure in the tourist resorts, high number of beaches with blue flag.

Nevertheless, there are some points, which make Turkey less attractive, as a tourism destination, such as undeveloped congress tourism, lack of plans for the diversification of tourism, destruction of nature and environment in some areas, high number of unqualified unemployed people, lack of social facilities for mental imbalanced and disabled people, lack of coordination between different sectors, lack of railways, lack of airports, situated near resorts.

Turkey is specialized at mass tourism today, which generally involves a large number of people visiting a small area and it can have a significant effect on both the cultural and the natural environment, consequently leading to the dramatic alter of an area. Tourism increases income level and employment opportunities in Turkey, which is closely related to the number of tourists and the total revenues earned by tourism sector. Income and employment opportunities can be seen as socio-economic impacts of tourism and they are related to each other. Particularly in rural areas, the diversification created by tourism helps communities that are possibly dependent on only one industry. Tourism is contributing to the agricultural production through indirect ways since the locals living in the villages and working in agriculture are being able to sell their products or labour to tourists, to the tourism enterprises and to neighbours that are earning wages from tourism. Although agricultural population earn small amounts from these casual sales, the additional earning opportunities are likely to benefit a higher percentage of local households than the full-time jobs generated in tourism. These agricultural earnings are the most important for the poorer people who have almost no other options for earning cash (Ashley 2000). Development of tourism in Turkey has resulted in a high number of new jobs, most of them are low-paid and seasonable from April until October, for college and university students, seasonal jobs are a good way to spend the summer while saving money for their education, improving their language skills, interacting with many people from various foreign countries and extending their perspectives.

In order to achieve sustainable future of the tourism, the priority for Turkey perhaps should be a development of the alternative types of tourism with the special focus on the cultural tourism, since it has great historical potential, which has been also recognized by the UNESCO. Turkey could become a whole year destination and provide more jobs for the local population, as well as greater income for the community. If the earned money would be well used in the protection of the environment and cultural heritage, as well as local population more involved in the planning process that would arguably lead to the more sustainable tourism in Turkey. Consequently, a risk of becoming overcrowded and overdeveloped in the future, which would lead to replacement of Turkey with the new fresh destinations, would be significantly increased.

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