TRAVEL AGENCIES SELLING THE NATURE

VERSUS

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Onur OKU

Senior Research Paper for TRM492 Tourism Research Topics, May 2003

Bogazici University School of Applied Disciplines - Tourism Administration Department

TABLE OF CONTENTS                                                                                       

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY                                                                                    

KEYWORDS                                                                                              

RESEARCH STATEMENT                                                                                 

INTRODUCTION                                                                                                 

LITERATURE SURVEY                                                                                      

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK & METHODOLOGY                                  

FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS                                                                             

CONCLUSION & IMPLICATIONS                                                                   

LIMITATIONS & WEAKNESSES OF THE STUDY                                        

REFERENCES                                                                                                      

APPENDICES                                                                                                        

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Tourism in Turkey has developed rapidly for the last two decades and it had a profound and irreversible effect on many destination areas. As the demand for new destinations increases, there is an unrelenting pressure for development in order to satisfy the growth of this complex, pervasive industry. Yet the approach of sustainable development does not allow uncontrolled growth and opening of new areas to tourism, where environment and local culture may be negatively affected. On the other hand, eco-tourism allows opening of new areas to tourism and creates new contacts between tourists and local society. Travel agencies who create and/or sell eco-tours, with or without awareness, are acting against sustainable tourism development. This research was undertaken in order to explore the attitudes of TURSAB member local travel agencies engaged in eco-tourism towards sustainable tourism development.

KEYWORDS

Sustainable development, sustainable tourism development, Turkey, travel agency, eco-tourism, eco-tour.

RESEARCH STATEMENT

The aim of the study is to figure out the knowledge and the attitudes of travel agencies in Turkey that are engaged in eco-tourism towards sustainable tourism development and to explore the opposition forces, sustainable form of tourism development and eco-tourism as an alternative to mass tourism, which in the beginning was noticed to be a more sustainable development technique than mass tourism. While exploring the attitudes of the travel agencies, the purpose of selling eco-tours and awareness to environmental, social, cultural and economic development of local society should be taken into consideration.

INTRODUCTION

The growth in alternative forms of tourism has occurred simultaneously with an increased recognition of the need to implement the concept of sustainable development. Eco-tourism has been widely assumed to be inherently sustainable, although few attempts have been made to verify this assumption. Eco-tourism incorporates environmental and cultural conservation objectives, and emphasizes economic benefits to local communities. Hence, eco-tourism would appear to be, and is increasingly presented as, a tool for sustainable development. However, it also has the potential to be more environmentally damaging than mass tourism since it typically occurs in fragile environments and opens up previously undiscovered destinations to the mass market.

By the late 1980s, a shift in the tourism industry's marketing strategy occurred alongside the emergence of the global environmental movement. In the decade of "green consumerism", critical consumers were soon leading the demand for “environmentally sound” holidays (Krippendorf 1987). Tour operators and travel companies began to promote themselves and their products as “environmentally friendly”, and a number of companies published ethical and environmental codes of conduct and guidelines for travelers as well as guidelines for self-regulation. Tour companies also started to promote eco-tourism holidays to all corners of the world, to coincide with the inclusion of the environment on the mainstream political agenda (Pholpoke 1994). At the same time the tourist hunting industry has expanded dramatically.

LITERATURE SURVEY

Sustainable Development

In the 1987 Brundtland Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, sustainable development is defined as the “ development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987:43). To meet the needs of the present, the new development has to provide ground on which the basic necessities of all humans and the opportunities for a better life can be satisfied.

Sustainable development is being discussed for the last two decades, mostly among academicians. The core elements of these discussions are:

Ø      The idea that the needs of present and future generations must be considered;

Ø      The need to ensure that renewable and non-renewable resources are conserved, not exhausted;

Ø      The requirement that access to and use of natural resources must take fair account of the needs of all people;

Ø      A recognition that issue of environment and sustainable development must be treated in an integrated manner.

Sustainable Tourism Development

The tourism and recreation industry is at a crossroads in its development. Now as one of the world's largest industries, it is increasingly confronted with arguments about its sustainability and compatibility with environmental protection and community development. Consideration of tourism, the environment, and concepts of sustainability should consider four key challenges: (1) a better understanding of how tourists value and use natural environments; (2) enhancement of the communities dependent on tourism as an industry; (3) identification of the social and environmental impact of tourism; and (4) implementation of systems to manage these impacts.

The tourism and recreation industry is confronted with serious and difficult choices about its future. The decisions made now will for decades affect the lifestyles and economic opportunity of residents in tourism destination areas. Many of these decisions are irreversible because once communities lose the character that makes them distinctive and attractive to nonresidents, they have lost their ability to vie for tourist-based income in an increasingly global and competitive market place.

Owen (1993) characterizes sustainable tourism development as:

Ø      Tourism should be one part of a balanced economy.

Ø      The use of tourism environments must allow for long-term preservation and for use of those environments.

Ø      Tourism should respect the character of an area.

Ø      Tourism must provide long-term economic benefits.

Ø      Tourism should be sensitive to the needs of the host population.

Butler suggests the following working definition of sustainable development in the context of tourism: "tourism which is developed and maintained in an area (community, environment) in such a manner and at such a scale that it remains viable over an indefinite period and does not degrade or alter the environment (human and physical) in which it exists to such a degree that it prohibits the successful development and well being of other activities and processes" (Butler, 1991: 203).

The growth in alternative forms of tourism has occurred simultaneously with increased recognition of the need to implement the concept of sustainable development. As with "eco-tourism",  "sustainable development" is another environmental catch phrase with no single definition. On the face of it, no other economic activity would appear to lend itself to sustainable development better than tourism (Sadler, 1987). Alternative forms of tourism that incorporate environmental and cultural conservation objectives with an emphasis on economic benefits to local communities would appear to be a panacea for sustainable development. Because damage to the environment threatens the resource base on which alternative forms of tourism depend, it would be logical to expect all involved in tourism to ensure the protection of these resources. All forms of tourism consume resources such as land and energy. However, when practiced against the standards of its definition, the small scale and dispersed nature of eco-tourism, combined with connotations of sound environmental management, means that it has the potential to consume far less basic resources than other forms of tourism or other developments.

A recent article in the UK Youth Hostel Association’s magazine, Triangle, takes up this theme:

“Spending your holiday in one of the latest artificial all-weather tropical pleasure domes or in intensely developed but properly managed holiday resorts like Benidorm and Torremolinos can be more environmentally friendly than indulging in trips to remote or fragile areas where tourism is more likely to be environmentally and culturally damaging and puts little or nothing back into managing and protecting the environment” (YHA, 1996).

Quoted in the same article, the popular conservationist David Bellamy comments “Eco-tourism is already a dirty word. Hill walking, jungle trekking and all the rest are just as potentially harmful as conventional resort holidays, if not more so. Most of the tourism industry is simply sponging off clean water, fresh air, the natural and cultural environment and is putting nothing back in. But there are praiseworthy exceptions, which not only do not damage the environment, but also actually help to restore it. This is real eco-tourism.” (YHA, 1996).

In addition to the potential damage caused locally to tourist destinations, the air transport of tourists to remote areas of the globe seriously undermines the concept of sustainability of the industry as a whole. For example, air travel contributes 2-3 percent of global emissions of fossil fuel derived carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, as well as nitrogen oxides, which contribute to low-level ozone formation (Somerville, 1994). Paradoxically, nitrogen oxides released at high altitudes also contribute to the thinning of the protective ozone layer over the earth (Elkington and Hailes, 1992).

Not all of the impacts of tourism are necessarily negative. If development and change are bound to occur in a particular site from some activity or other, tourism may be a far less damaging alternative than many other more polluting industries. The Overseas Development Association (ODA) Manual of Environment Appraisal (1996) provides a checklist to help develop management strategies to minimize negative impacts and maximize positive benefits (APPENDIX-A). Therefore, alternative or other forms of tourism are not necessarily a panacea for sustainable development, unless well planned and well regulated.

In most countries, there usually is no coordination between programs that promote and market tourism and those that manage environment and culture. On the other hand, agencies dealing with the promotion of tourism are not involved with the evaluation of its effects or with advance planning and management of the adverse impacts of tourism through avoidance, mitigation, and compensation strategies (Cicin-Sain, 1993).

Eco-tourism

The term "eco-tourism" is often assumed largely to alternative tourism that involves international travel by people from rich developed countries to developing countries, as a means of providing much needed foreign exchange for hard-pressed national economies, and earnings for poor rural people. The notion of these interrelated conservation and economic benefits has led to much confusion surrounding the variety of terms currently in use that appear to have similar meanings and aims. These include “alternative tourism”, “sustainable tourism”, "soft tourism", “special interest tourism”, “green tourism”, and “eco-tourism”. Some of these terms frequently appear to be used interchangeably, while others may be defined in a variety of ways.

In reality, eco-tourism has become widely adopted as a generic term to describe tourism that has, as its primary purpose, an interaction with nature, and that incorporates a desire to minimize negative impacts (Orams, 1995). Implicit in the term is the assumption that local communities should benefit from tourism and will help to conserve nature in the process (Goodwin, 1996). In this study, the term “Eco-tourism” will be used to generalize all the other terms, and if a specific section of eco-tourism like wildlife tourism or alternative tourism is explained, then those terms will be used specifically. The terms “eco-tourists” and “eco-tours” will be used in this study to summarize the group of tourists and the tours created for them in the name of eco-tourism.

As with the term "eco-tourism", there is similar confusion regarding the term "alternative tourism" that is often used as a generic term encompassing a range of variations such as eco-tourism and green tourism, all of which purport to offer a more benign alternative to conventional mass tourism (Weaver, 1991). Indeed, eco-tourism has been described as "one of the most widely used and abused phrases of the last decade", which it is argued can mean anything to anyone (Butler, 1996).

A few definitions of “Eco-tourism”:

"An enlightening nature travel experience that contributes to the conservation of the ecosystem while respecting the integrity of host communities" (Cater & Lowman, 1994).

"Responsible travel to natural areas, which conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people" (Lindberg & Hawkins, 1993).

"Purposeful travel that creates an understanding of cultural and natural history, while safeguarding the integrity of the ecosystem and producing economic benefits that encourage conservation" (Ryel & Grasse, 1991).

Eco-tourism can contribute enormously to the management of protected areas. Benefits include foreign exchange revenues, employment opportunities, improving awareness of conservation objectives and stimulation of economic activity. While protected areas are major destinations for eco-tourists, private enterprise is playing an increasing role in the eco-tourism sector. In addition, eco-tourism is a major vehicle for realizing tangible benefits of conservation for local communities with wildlife populations occurring on their land. However, the benefits accruing to local communities from tourism have so far been overstated. The type and magnitude of the environmental impacts associated with eco-tourism vary with the type of tourist activity pursued. Some impacts are obvious and easily identifiable, while others are indirect and difficult to quantify.

Strategies to manage the impacts arising from eco-tourism may also be direct or indirect. Direct strategies include limiting the total numbers of visitors to an area; dispersing visitors; zoning; using fixed viewing points; and setting guidelines for minimum viewing distances. Indirect strategies are those that aim to modify the behavior of tourists. One of the most important ways of achieving this is to educate visitors about the potential disturbance they can cause and to provide advice on how to reduce it.

Eco-tourism has the potential to be more damaging than mass tourism since they often occur in fragile or unique environments. Small-scale operations in environmentally sensitive locations may eventually turn into much larger and more destructive operations (Hunter and Green, 1995). Eco-tourism may simply represent the early stages of the conventional tourist destination life cycle (Wall, 1994). The life cycle concept essentially revolves around the premise that, unless intervention occurs, tourist destination areas and resources inevitably will become over-used and, consequently, will decline. The six stages of the cycle (Butler, 1980) are as follows:

Ø      Exploration (few tourists, poor access and facilities, environment unchanged);

Ø      Involvement (local initiatives, some promotion, increasing numbers);

Ø      Development (many tourists, locals lose control, deterioration of environment);

Ø      Consolidation (tourist numbers exceed local residents, all major chains represented);

Ø      Stagnation (numbers peak, destination falls out of fashion, environmental and social problems);

Ø      Decline or Rejuvenation (or intermediaries).

This cycle has a number of obvious implications for sustainability, based on the consideration of factors such as carrying capacity, local participation, ownership, social and environmental impacts.

Mass tourists may have less impact than eco-tourists, because they tend to limit themselves to well known, easily accessible areas and insulate themselves from the local people. In some instances, the zoning of mass tourism (or enclave tourism) is adopted as a deliberate policy by a host country. For example, tourists in the Maldives are confined to self-contained, purpose built resorts on isolated, often formerly uninhabited islands, in order to avoid a culture clash between bikini-clad tourists and the conservative, Islamic islanders. Bhutan limits the annual foreign tourist entrance to their country to 3,000 pax only.

Eco-tourism proved to be a very lucrative sector of the industry, and commercial considerations of marketing the latest “undiscovered” paradise quickly overshadowed any concerns for environmental or cultural degradation. Indeed, the marketing of eco-tourism may well have accelerated social degradation, because more and more previously unknown destinations were discovered and subsequently opened up to mass tourism.

Turkey & Sustainable Tourism Development

Without giving due regard to the underlying principles of eco-tourism, tour operators and even governmental agencies seem to be securing the short-term economic benefits to sell regions or products (Jarvie, 1991; Wight, 1993).

As a developing country, Turkey's choice of pursuing a tourism development strategy is to create opportunities for economic improvement, since it suffers from deficit in the balance of payments. Tourism is also a tool for decreasing unemployment, because it is a labor-intensive industry. Turkey is trying to secure the short-term inflow of the foreign currency by increasing its bed capacity and trying to attract more tourists. Although the industry is centralized as being governed by the ministry, there are not any records available of any act for sustainable tourism development. Some accommodation units and travel agencies to a certain extent, as a tool for revenue generation, only use sustainable tourism. Accommodation units try to decrease the operational costs like usage of sun energy. Some demand less usage of towels. Clearly, the aim of these acts is not to maintain sustainable tourism, but to minimize their costs. Indeed, the travel agencies' main concern is to maximize the total number of tourists to increase their profit. Therefore, the carrying capacity is totally ignored.

Like many other developing country governments, Turkish governments have helped the fast development of tourism without taking into account the factors of local culture and environment. All governmental acts have been related to monetary gains, since Turkey have been used to economic crises during the last decade. Even IMF has expected certain tourism income figures in order to give credits.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The purpose of the research was to explore the perceptions of and the possible commitments of Turkish travel agencies engaged in eco-tourism to sustainable tourism development. An exploratory study were undertaken since not much was known about the situation at hand, and there were not any information available on how similar problems or research issues have been solved in the past. In other terms, there were not any previously defined theoretical framework and any hypothesis to test, so this research was to develop related subjects and their groupings by content analysis.

In order to address the quality of information obtained about nature tour operators, substantial attention will be given to survey design and administration (Higgins and Drollete, 1994). The aim of the research was to examine how travel agencies perceive the impacts of their development and to evaluate their level of response to environmental concerns. In order to satisfy these aims, the objective was to obtain rich data. This pointed towards using a qualitative method involving relatively few people. According to Oppenheim (1992) 'the longer, the more difficult and the more open-ended the questions schedule is, the more we should prefer to use interviews.' In the light of this, a decision was made to undertake face-to-face, in-depth interviews.

In order to reach desired information, directors or senior personnel of ten TURSAB member agencies who are engaged in eco-tourism as the unit of analysis were interviewed. Having obtained the booklet of TURSAB listing the agencies as the population frame, the initial intention was to undertake systematic random sampling; however, this method of sampling proved unsatisfactory due to the high number of companies unwilling to participate and the fact that only around one-third of the population were in Istanbul, making the rest impossible to reach regarding the time limits. The choice of researcher was, therefore, very much decided on by the respondents' willingness to participate, i.e. the first ten agencies in Istanbul to agree. Given the seniority of all the interviewees, this was effectively 'elite interviewing': the individuals are influential and in a position to report on their organizations policies and future plan. Furthermore, 'elites respond well to ... intelligent, provocative, open-ended questions' (Marshall & Rossman, 1995).

Among the total population of 362, 135 were located in Istanbul and the rest 227 were located especially where eco-tourism activities took place. A limitation should be noted that the number of agencies rapidly change and figures of 2000 may not be the exact values of today, yet helped us for a fair idea of the population, since links on TURSAB website of the updated lists of agencies did not work during research process.

The research was a cross-sectional study with respect to time horizon, because data were gathered by the interview once, for a period of days.

In-depth, face-to-face interviews with managers of travel agencies engaged in eco-tourism have been used as the data collection method. Other data sources were used during the literature survey such as publications, manuals, archives, journals and related books.

For qualitative data analysis, systematic coding by content analysis was used to analyze the transcripts of the interviews. In this method, the researcher analyzed interview answers and prepared a list of subjects. The researcher and one independent sorter categorized these subjects independently. After a discussion between the researcher and the independent sorter, who was a manager of one of the visited travel agencies, a common categorization was agreed upon. For reliability testing, two independent graduate students who have studied research methodology also categorized the subjects.

According to the reliability test (Appendix-D), the results of the content analysis came out to be significant.

FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS

Types of Tours

According to the segmentation like mass tourism and eco-tourism, travel agencies engaged in eco-tourism also sell tours for the mass market. When the respondents were asked to compare the two types of tours with respect to sustainability, there was a clear dichotomy between the two segments. At the first glance, special tours and eco-tours might be considered more sustainable; their volumes are lower, they are more likely to use local accommodation, local guides and services, and attract more environmentally aware clients. However, a differentiated tour for the mass market may attract eco-tourists as well. On the other hand, some specialist markets are evolving into mass markets, because of the increase in volume and the rapidly changing markets. This shows the danger of using broad statements, as eco-tours are more sustainable.

Types of Activities

According to the frequency order derived from the answers of the respondents, the following activities are marketed by the travel agencies: Walking/rambling, alternative water sports, trekking, golf, adventure, cycling, hunting, safari, photographing, mountaineering, rafting, horseback riding, fishing, alternative winter sports, bird watching. Many of the agencies sell more than one type of tours.

Why to sell alternative forms of tourism?

Travel agencies sell alternative forms of tourism in order to earn more money. Other reasons are to reach the young generation, to increase the variety of products and to enter a new market. Travel agency executives feel that their companies should be considered like markets or small shops in evaluation of any effects of operations, but they forget the fact that they do not sell products of another company like a market, but they produce the eco-tours themselves and sell them. Since those tours selling the nature are their products, they are responsible for the positive or negative effects of their products. These effects may be to the environment, to the local culture or to other aspects related to sustainable tourism. Travel agencies do not seem to accept the fact that some of the activities they make are acting against sustainable tourism by opening new areas to tourism without considering carrying capacity, using the nature as a marketing concept and allowing uncontrolled contact with local culture and tourists.

Sustainable Tourism

Sustainable development is a new subject of concern that many of us are not familiar with. Sustainable tourism development is also new, but it is being discussed in meetings of many international organizations. The first and obviously the main finding was that most of the interviewed senior personnel or managers of travel agencies in Turkey that are engaged in eco-tourism do not even know what sustainability is all about. Interesting answers on the definition of sustainability, which were totally unrelated to it, reminded the researcher the fact that many of the employees and managers in the tourism industry are uneducated or did not have their education on tourism. This was proved by the respondents' education levels, which were mostly high-school graduates. The most interesting answer for the researcher was: 'Sustainable tourism, ... should be related to renovations of the hotels, planes... it should not be related with travel agencies, we sustain tourism'. No matter the answer is funny or dramatic, but it seemed to be the reality for general knowledge of travel agency executives in Turkey related to sustainability. So, the respondents did not take into consideration the important aspects of sustainability like local culture or environment, since they did not know the term.

Who is more responsible for realization of sustainable tourism?

Economically, travel agencies feel that any attempt to take steps on sustainable tourism will put them at a commercial disadvantage because of increasing costs. They agree on helping the realization of sustainable tourism only if the tourists accept to pay more. Therefore, they feel that governments are more responsible for imposing restrictions, limiting growth and controlling volumes and so helping sustainable tourism. The result of this study showed that, travel agencies are willing to comply with regulations if governments impose them to the whole sector. Another point that Turkish travel agencies engaged in eco-tourism mentioned is their operations are too small with respect to the whole market to make any influence.

CONCLUSION & IMPLICATIONS

This study has examined the social, environmental and cultural impacts of alternative tourism activities with regard to the travel agencies in Turkey engaged in eco-tourism. First conclusion is that it has become harder to segment the market into mass tourism and eco-tourism, since the two segments are becoming more integrated into each other and there are products, which cannot be put under a certain category. Second conclusion is that, although these travel agencies sell eco-tours and earn money, they believe that government has the major responsibility to ensure sustainable development. The third general conclusion is the fact that most of the travel agency executives has learned the definition of sustainability after the general explanation of the researcher.

It is easy to make an assumption like because travel agencies are small enterprises; their responsible behavior may have a very small effect on sustainable tourism. Yet, specialist tours take tourists deeper into nature and sensitive local culture, and import the necessary skills instead using local work force.

Environmental policies and sustainable acts have become nothing more than a marketing ploy and a vehicle or eluding regulation. Environmental departments and affiliations with glossy campaigns have arguably become a PR exercise designed to meet the growing awareness in some markets to appear environmentally sound and to attract higher spending tourists. For sustainable tourism to be a marketable concept, tourists themselves have got to really buy on it.

To conclude, the researcher wants to point out that sustainability is mostly considered as an utopia and will probably never be achieved.

LIMITATIONS & WEAKNESSES OF THE STUDY

Since the respondents were not aware of the topic, it was hard to evaluate travel agencies' attitudes towards sustainable tourism. Most of the respondents did not want their company names to be published because of their lack of knowledge on the topic.

Certainly, as far as travel agencies are concerned, it is almost impossible to make generalizations, with each company having a different product, market segment, strategy and philosophy. Another weakness is that the respondents were busy with the new coming hot season. They demanded the time of the interview to be as short as possible. This limited the number of words used and so the frequency numbers.

REFERENCES

Butler, R. W. (1980). The concept of a tourist area cycle of evolution: implications for management of resources. Canadian Geographer, 24(1), 5-12.

Butler, R. W. (1991). Tourism, environment, and sustainable development. Environmental Conservation, 18(3), 201-209.

Butler, R. W. (1996). Problems and possibilities of sustainable tourism: the case of the Shetland Islands, Briguglio, L., Butler, R. W., Harrison, D., and Filho, W. L. (eds.) Sustainable Tourism in Islands and Small States, in the case studies, Printer Publications, London, 11-31.

Cater, E. and Lowman, G. (1994), Ecotourism: A Sustainable Option? John Wiley and Sons LTD, England.

Cicin-Sain, B. (1993). Sustainable Development, Integrated Coastal Management and Tourism: Challenges to Mediterranean Countries. MEDCOAST '93 Proceedings, Antalya.

Elkington, J. and Hailes, J. (1992), Holidays that don't Cost the Earth. Victor Gollancz, London.

Goodwin, H. J. (1996). In Pursuit of Ecotourism. Biodiversity and Conservation, 5, 277-291.

Higgins, B. and Drollete, J. (1994), A Survey of US Based Nature Tour Operators Offering Trips to Latin America. State University of New York, Department of Geography and Planning, Plattsburgh, NY.

Hunter, C. and Green, H. (1995), Tourism and the Environment: A Sustainable Relationship? Routledge, London.

Jarvie, L. (1991). Responsible Marketing of Adventure Travel and Eco-tourism. In the Proceedings of the 1991 World Congress on Adventure Travel and Eco-Tourism. The Adventure Travel Society Inc., Englebrook, Colorado, 68-70.

Krippendorf, J. (1987), The Holidaymakers. Heinemann, London.

Lindberg, K. and Hawkins, D. E. (1993), Ecotourism: A Guide for Planners and Managers. The Ecotourism Society, North Bennington, Vermont.

Marshall, C. and Rossman, G. B. (1995), Designing Qualitative Research, 2nd edn. Sage, London.

ODA (1996), The Manual of Environmental Appraisal, Second Edition. Overseas Development Administration, London.

Oppenheim, A. N. (1992), Questionnaire Design, Interviewing and Attitude Measurement. Pinter, London.

Orams, M. B. (1995). Towards a More Desirable Form of Ecotourism. Tourism Management, 16(1), 3-8.

Owen, R. E.; Witt, S. F.; Gammon, S. (1993). Sustainable tourism development in Wales. Tourism Management, 12, 463-474.

Pholpoke, C. (1994). Case Study of the Chiang Mai Cable Car Project: Early Moves Towards Ecotourism. Thailand Environment Institute Quarterly Environment Journal, 2(4), 62-77.

Ryel, R. and Grasse, T. (1991). Marketing Ecotourism: Attracting the Elusive Ecotourist. In T. Whelan (Ed.), Nature Tourism: Managing for the Environment. Island Press, Washington D.C.

Sadler, B. (1987). Sustaining Tomorrow and Endless Summer: On Linking Tourism and the Environment in the Caribbean. In F. Edward (Ed.), Environmentally Sound Tourism Development in the Caribbean, 9-23. University of Calgary Press. Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Somerville, H. (1994). Airlines, Tourism and Environment. British Airways Environment Report, 32.

TURSAB (2000), Travel Agencies in Turkey. TURSAB.

Wall, G. (1994). Ecotourism: Old Wine in New Bottles? Trends, 31(2), 4-9.

Weaver, D. B. (1991). Alternative to Mass Tourism in Dominica. Annals of Tourism Research, 18, 414-432.

Wight, P. A. (1993). Sustainable ecotourism: Balancing economic, environmental and social goals within an ethical framework. The Journal of Tourism Studies. 4(2), 54-66.

World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

YHA (1996). Green Coloured Glasses: The Myths and Realities of Ecotourism. Triangle, Issue No:35, Winter 1996/97, Magazine of the Youth Hostel Association, UK.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX-A

Checklist for Sustainable Tourism Development

Ø      Is there a minimum-planning framework in place, which will ensure that tourism development does not damage the quality of the local environment?

Ø      Are there an overall strategy for economic development and a specific role for tourism in this strategy?

Ø      Is there a sufficient infrastructural framework to support the proposed tourism development?

Ø      Can the food and product requirements of the travel and tourism industry be met by current provision within the region or country or will it result in increased imports (and thus leakages of foreign exchange earnings)?

Ø      Is there provision for the stimulation of other sectors (such as agriculture and crafts) to ensure maximum benefit from the development of tourism?

Ø      Is there, or will there be, training provision for members of the local community to guarantee opportunities to assume managerial positions within tourism companies?

Ø      Will the companies participating in the programme be selected because of their environmental profile?

Ø      Will specific management plans be prepared for areas of cultural or natural interest?

Ø      Have the local community been involved in the development of the programme?

Ø      Is there provision within the programme to communicate environmental issues to tourists? Source: ODA (1996).

APPENDIX-B: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Düzenlediğiniz veya sattığınız turlar hakkında bilgi verir misiniz?

2. Özel ilgi turları düzenliyorsanız, bunların türlerini spesifik olarak belirtir misiniz?

3. Özel ilgi turlarını satmaktaki amacınız nedir?

4. Eko-turizm denilince ne anlıyorsunuz? Eko-turizmi; çevre, karlılık, pazarlama ve yeni turizm bölgeleri yaratma açısından değerlendirir misiniz?

5. Sürdürülebilir turizm sizce ne demektir?

6. Eko-turizm, kitle turizmiyle karşılaştırıldığında sürdürülebilir bir turizm midir?

7. Kitle turistleriyle eko-turistleri karşılaştırdığınızda, sizce farklar nelerdir?

8. Acentanız, herhangi bir çevre organizasyonuna üye mi? Herhangi bir çevresel faaliyette bulundunuz mu?

9. Sizce sürdürülebilir turizmin sağlanmasında en önemli rol kimlere düşmektedir? Değerlendirmenizde yerel kuruluşları, çevre örgütlerini, tur operatörleri ve seyahat acentalarını, hükümetleri, turistleri ve basını dikkate alınız.

10. Seyahat acentaları olarak gerektiğinde yerel kültürü, yerel iş gücünü ve yerel ürünleri mi tercih edersiniz? Neden?

11. Eğitim durumunuz nedir?

12. İsminizin cevaplarla birlikte yayınlanmasını kabul ediyor musunuz?

APPENDIX-C: CONTENT ANALYSIS RESULTS

TABLE-1: LIST OF SUBJECTS - INDEXING

TABLE-2: AGREED GROUPING - CHARTING