An Evaluation of Tourism Activities in Turkish National Parks within the Context of Alternative Tourism Perspective

Abstract

National parks are important destinations for the protection of natural resources and sustainable tourism. This research aims to examine tourism activities carried out in Turkish national parks from an alternative tourism perspective. In the research process, a qualitative approach was adopted, and document analysis was chosen as the data collection method. The data source consists of introduction pages on the website of the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks. Fifty national parks with accessible data were examined, tourism activities were identified, and a dataset was created. The research identified 463 tourism activities and 150 different activity types. Data were analyzed through content analysis, evaluated in terms of frequency distributions, and classified according to alternative tourism types. Findings show that activities are largely nature-based. Hiking trails (38), daily recreation (32), scenic viewing (25), bird watching (23), and wildlife watching (21) are the most common activities. Among alternative tourism types, nature tourism (50), cultural tourism (37), and sports tourism (18) stand out. The results show that national parks have significant potential for alternative tourism.