Alternative Tourism: Definition and Characteristics

Abstract

Part I of this book outlined the stages in the development of mass tourism in Turkey, emphasizing the important role it has played in Turkey’s economic development strategy. However, as pointed out in Chap. 3, the development of mass tourism also had some very serious negative repercussions. These negative impacts were ignored or minimized by the government during the earlier stages of tourism development, as the emphasis was on growing the number of tourists and revenue. After 2000, however, this view started to change, with the more recent governmental tourism policies emphasizing the need for Turkey to encourage the development of alternative forms of tourism. This chapter starts by examining a number of possible solutions to the problems caused by mass tourism development, focusing particularly on the development of alternative forms of tourism. In this sense, alternative tourism is defined and discussed in relation to a multitude of factors, and the case studies presented in Part II are shortly introduced.