Redefining and Revitalized Community-Based Tourism: An Evaluation of Green Tourism Practises in Turkey

Abstract

This chapter aims to highlight practices that ensure a livable climate and support the creation of a greener and more sustainable environment for community-based tourism in the case of Turkey. Green tourism needs to be improved and enhanced integrally from the perspective of tourism stakeholders, including tour operators, travel agencies, hotels, guests, and the host community. Turkey is the first country in the world to apply the green tourism certification system. It is a system very similar to the safe certificate system applied in tourism facilities. In Turkey, 4–5 star hotels are obliged to switch to this system. Community-based tourism is an alternative tourism approach that meets the needs and wishes of the host people, provides a more sustainable economy compared to other economic activities, and does not harm local culture and traditions. Global climate change and tourism are in a relationship with each other, and this relationship is even more evident for nature-based tourism types. Climate, natural environment, and personal security are seen as three main factors in the selection of a tourism center, and it is predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that global climate change will have significant effects on these factors at the regional level. The United Nations World Tourism Organization accepts that the tourism industry should develop its potential to adapt to global warming, considering that the tourism industry is an economic sector that is open to the direct and indirect effects of climate change and is dependent on climate.

Citation

ATEŞ, E.B. and BAYRAM, G.E. (2024), "Redefining and Revitalized Community-Based Tourism: An Evaluation of Green Tourism Practises in Turkey", Sharma, A. and Arora, S. (Ed.) Strategic Tourism Planning for Communities (Building the Future of Tourism), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 197-209. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83549-015-020241016