The future of tourism is "ecotourism"

Bringing together world tourism in Izmir, Travel Turkey Izmir Fair will be held this time on the "Digital Izmir Fair" platform, which is the digital infrastructure of İZFAŞ. In the 14th Travel Turkey Izmir Digital Fair, which will be held virtually at ttidigital.izfas.com.tr on 25-27 February 2021 the subjects of sustainability and ecotourism will be discussed in depth. While online events to be held within the scope of the fair shed light on the tourism industry; Sweden, the pioneer of ecotourism, will take place in the 14th Travel Turkey Izmir Digital as a partner country.

 

Scandinavian countries lead the world tourism trends with good practices in sustainable tourism and ecotourism areas. The pandemic process, where international travel is not possible, opened new horizons, especially for the tourism sector. As being the gateway to the world of tourism sector in Turkey, Travel Turkey Izmir has strengthened its relations with the Scandinavian countries in this direction. Sweden, the pioneer of ecotourism, will participate in the 14th Travel Turkey Izmir Digital Fair as a partner country. This participation, which will strengthen diplomatic relations and business partnerships, will also introduce the ecotourism trends in Sweden to the Turkish tourism industry. Peter Ericson, Consul General of Sweden in Istanbul, will talk about the importance of ecotourism in the world and trends related to ecotourism in Sweden at 13:00 on Thursday, February 25, in the webinar entitled "What is Ecotourism?".

 

As international trade comes to a halt all over the world due to pandemic conditions; tourism was one of the sectors that produced the fastest solution, despite being the most affected by the process. All over the world, tourism trends have changed rapidly; this also revealed the importance of sustainable tourism in Turkey. Although the pandemic process is a lost time for the tourism industry; sector representatives have managed to turn this crisis into an opportunity that would open their horizons. A new understanding of tourism is emerging where the qualities of the destinations are brought to the fore and local wealth is transformed into added value. This approach, which is put forward with sustainable tourism, aimed to protect and develop natural, historical, cultural, social and aesthetic values and to ensure the continuity of their attractiveness. Sustainable tourism, also expressed as the effective use of the environmental impacts of new activities and developments; is a candidate to play an active role in minimizing losses by protecting natural, environmental, biological and sociocultural resources.

The subjects involving increasing employment by adopting a sustainable approach to tourism, being the pioneer of tourism in regional development and Turkey taking place among top five countries in terms of number of tourists and tourism revenue have become one of the priority topics of the "Turkey Tourism Strategy 2023 Action Plan" prepared by the R.O.T. Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Adopting this strategy of our country; through following the trends in the world for a permanent and sustainable growth in tourism and producing new trends, Izmir strives to become a city that can find buyers for these produced trends all over the world. Life in harmony with nature and sustainable tourism perspective, created under the leadership of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, have given a great acceleration to the tourism sector. It is thought that Izmir, which gives importance to creating a common mind by strengthening multidimensional, global, national and local cooperation, will be at the center of change in the post-pandemic period. Travel Turkey Izmir Digital Fair also revealed that Izmir can turn the crisis into an opportunity and do fair organization under all conditions. Travel Turkey Izmir, which will be held for the first time via a digital platform this year, will go down in history as the first virtual exhibition of the tourism sector in Turkey.

 

Ecotourism, which was developed in the 1990s as an alternative to mass tourism and adopted as the best form of sustainable tourism, is expressed as the most suitable type of tourism that can be developed in natural and cultural areas that include elements of rural and cultural tourism. Ecotourism is seen as an important tool in ensuring sustainable development against the damages of uncontrolled mass tourism on the environment and society. The World Tourism Organization (WTO) defines ecotourism as "All nature-based forms of tourism in which the main motivation of the tourists is the observation and appreciation of nature as well as the traditional cultures prevailing in natural areas.” The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) interprets ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that protects the environment and improves the welfare of the local people”.

 

Minimizing the damage caused by tourism to the natural and traditional environment • Providing education to tourists and local people for the protection of nature and traditional socio-cultural environment • Ensuring the encouragement of tourism as a responsible trade that meets the needs of the local people and develops in cooperation with the local government and the public. • Reserving resources for the management of (natural and sociocultural) areas • Supporting long-term monitoring and evaluation programs for the socio-cultural and natural environment in order to minimize the negative impact of tourism • Ensuring the development of tourism in a way that contributes to the livelihood of the local people. • Ensuring the development of tourism in a way that will increase the social and environmental capacity of the region • Realization of infrastructure investments in tourism that are compatible with the environment, intertwined with natural and traditional socio-cultural life, and that protect local vegetation and wildlife.