Research Paper on Ecotourism

Introduction

Ecotourism basically is a form of tourism whereby tourist both local and foreign visits undisturbed natural areas, it also involves uniting conversation, bringing communities together and sustainable travel. Furthermore, ecotourism can also be referred to as a sustainable tourism since it plays an important role in environment conservation and also a deeper understanding of the needs of the local people in order to improve their lives and also gather knowledge about the historical events of a place and preservation of the historical landmarks in existence.

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Ecotourism promotes ethical tourism practices in the tourism industry and therefore not only brings fourth peaceful co-existence but also attract both local and foreign tourist for the betterment of a country at large. It also facilitates good relation between the local communities and the government in enacting various ecotourism policies and laws in order to manage waste and emissions in a manner which does not pose any threat to the environment for the betterment of the ministry of tourism and the country.

Ecotourism being one of the most important aspects of a country it, therefore, deserves a special attention right from the government and also each and every community within the country for it to be realized fully. The primary purpose of ecotourism is to develop a better appreciation of the natural resources in the world for example:

1. Wildlife
2. Landscapes
3. Water bodies and coral reefs

Through a very organized ecotourism and sustainable travel in a country facilitates protection of the endangered species within the environment and also stimulates the ideas of protecting natural environment through various methods namely:

1. By coming up with policies and regulations which protect the environment and everything within it.
2. Creation of Marine parks, Wildlife reserves and also coming up with the National parks which accord special attention to the endangered species.

There are a number of benefits that come as a result of ecotourism they are economic, environmental and socio-cultural in nature. Ecotourism directly create job opportunities such as tour guide hence help to address the problem of unemployment it also creates indirect employment through agriculture hence boasting food production within the country, all these leads to a stable economy. The country also earns income from both the local and foreign tourist which is used in the development of a country. In a nutshell for a country to realize its economic and socio-cultural potential and strengths, it must out of good genuinely address and put in place best measures to encourage ecotourism. Even though tourism will never become sustainable on its own since various organisation and industry has great impact, still it can work round the clock towards becoming sustainable because as more countries develop their tourism sector it results in a right sense of direction on natural resources, handling of waste and emissions and the desire to protect natural resources and thereby result in environmental sustainability.

Historical Background about Turkey

Turkey is located in the continent of Europe and it occupies a total of 769632.00 square kilometers of land and also has 13,930 square kilometers of land covered by various water bodies and a remarkable population of 79,749,461 million. Its capital city is Ankara. It is a very nice and exciting place to visit from the geographical point of view, the country is surrounded by seas on three sides of it, there is the Aegean Sea to the west of Turkey, it is also surrounded by the Black Sea to the north and lastly it is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Its strategic location has earned it power and control over the entrance of the Black Sea and therefore the country stands a good chance of developing sustainable tourism along the Black Sea and also conservation of the environment in and around the Sea.

The country a wide variety of interesting physical features which add more flavor to its geographical standpoint. The European side of Turkey is mostly occupied by the rolling hills making the area attractive and therefore attracts tourists, the central side of Turkey has a raised topography forming an elevated central Plateau which is surrounded by high rugged mountains they include:

1. Taurus Mountain.
2. Korogly and Pontic range.

In addition, the country also contains great water bodies apart from the Seas, there is lake Tuz Golu which is the second largest in Turkey and it is situated within the Central Anatolia region. The country also has various national parks set aside for the conservation of the wildlife they include:

1. Yellowstone National Park
2. Royal National park
3. Northeast Greenland
4. Kackar Mountains

From foregoing Turkey has a beautiful topography and is one of the richest countries in terms of the availability of natural resources which should be conserved for the betterment of the country at large. The most stated and common principle of ecotourism is that sustainable use of exhaustible natural resources with no or minimal negative environmental effect: It represents eco-friendly use of natural resources (Nyuapane and Poudel 2011, Surendran and Sekhar 2011), hence regardless of how rich Turkey is today in terms of natural resources without good measures put in place all the natural resources it has can get exhausted.

The 1980s, Turkey fully implemented ecotourism as an additional economic booster to tourism after which the tourism-related laws gave way to the tourism-related establishments in 1982. There has also been a commendable support from the government of Turkey to support tourism from the financial point of view and also providing enabling environment.

Data Presentation

Creation of Policies and Regulations on the Natural Resources

The government of Turkey should come up with well-framed policies and regulations which can adequately preserve the available natural resources and the landscape in order to develop ecotourism. The landscape should be highly protected from misuse by human beings and unscrupulous individuals, the mountainous regions such as the central turkey where the landscape rises and forms a plateau should be well protected and only controlled agricultural activities should be allowed to take place around such areas in order to preserve such places thereby encouraging the development of ecotourism within Turkey.

Water bodies available in Turkey such as lake Tuz Golu should be well protected against misuse and also the policies should promote the creation of ecotourism related establishments in order to give a conducive environment of protecting such kind of natural resources. Since the strategic location of Turkey has given it the influence and control over the entrance of the Black Sea it should, therefore, come up with modest policies and regulations on how to conserve the Black Sea. In addition, since the country surrounded by three seas, it has the responsibility of coming up with policies and legislation on the conservation of marine life in order to develop ecotourism by the management of landscape and natural resources.

Since the country also has National parks like Kackar Mountains National park, the government should come up with proper policies on the creation of such national parks and establish as much as possible and also give special attention to the endangered species, this will help in conserving wildlife and thereby developing of ecotourism management of wildlife in particular.

Regulations issues of ecotourism in terms of the co-operation of state departments mostly results in the monitoring, regulation, control, and promotion. As Banerjee (2010) and others came to a conclusion that the relational nature and practice of ecotourism policies most of the time do not benefit local people and natural resource conservation in Turkey. The problem has nothing to do with the financial support, the behavior of population and establishment of various pressures.

The state institutions in Turkey should promote the idea of ecotourism by coming up with national and global certification program based on the concept of ecotourism and also clear policies on how to use the natural resources.

Provision of Public Awareness on the Importance of Natural Resources

The relevant state department should carry out public education in order to sensitize people on how important the natural resources are, the public awareness can be done through adverts in various media, at a community level the government should come up with program of educating the youths on how to preserve the natural resources. The government can also produce relevant documents about the ecotourism and do free distribution to the citizens so that they can as well gather knowledge on how to conserve the natural resources, the documents should also bring on board how to effectively manage the landscape and all the natural resources available so that any activity carried out at any level does not pose threat to any life.

The government should also distribute relevant materials about tourism and conservation of natural resources to various institutions to enable students also learn how to conserve natural resources so that it becomes a collective responsibility of protecting the natural resources. The relevant state department can as well introduce the idea of ecotourism in the school curriculum so that young people also effectively take part in the conservation of natural resources.

Financial and Fiscal Support From the Government

All the tourism-related establishments should be adequately funded by the government in order to effectively conserve the natural resources. They should be provided with all the resources needed in their various line of duty in conserving the natural resources. This will facilitate good security, good care of the natural resources and this attracts both local and foreign tourists thereby promoting ecotourism.

Provision of adequate financial support also facilitates the desire to conserve the natural resources since all the stakeholders will be employed and this not only conserves the natural resources but also promotes the appreciation of the natural resources and economic growth.

Fostering Peace and Harmony Between Communities

In order to realize the idea of ecotourism by the management of landscape and natural resources, great steps should be undertaken in order to bring peace and harmony among communities or stakeholders. This will enable all the communities to work with one another and be responsible for all the natural resources available

When there is peace among communities there is free movement of tourist from one place to the other and thereby developing ecotourism

Sustainable Transportation

Transportation XE "Transportation" is a very mandatory link between the tourist XE "tourist" residential areas and the tourist sites via mostly road transportation and between main locations and local destination areas through mostly land and sea mode of transportation. There are tour operators owned by Turkey in various countries which co-ordinate the transportation of various tourist for example, Oger Tour with Atlas jet.

Travel Agencies and Tour Operators

There should be in place a very well-connected network of tour operators and travel agencies in Turkey to ensure a swift transportation of both local and foreign tourists. The travel agencies should carry out all the...