Abstract
A Research on Organic Ecotourism Farms in Turkey
In recent years’ when tourism trends examined both in the world and in Turkey, it is noticed that, the expectations of the tourists have changed. People have moved away from crowded, usual tourism centers to rural areas and participated in ecotourism activities which is one of the alternative types of tourism. Farm tourism is a type of tourism which allows visitors to use both agriculture and livestock and various ecotourism activities together, as well as it brings extra income to the local people of the region, at the same time it contributes the promotion of the region. Contrary to the mass tourism which has irreversible environmental damages, farm tourism’s implementation areas have been expanding in Turkey. The aim of this paper is to examine organic ecotourism farms of Wheat Ecological Life Support Association’ of TaTuTa project operating in different regions of Turkey in the context of tourism management. In this context, tourism management applications such as customer profiles, the features of product, managerial and organizational styles, marketing strategies, human resources management were analyzed. Fort his purpose farm managers’ opinions and ideas were examined by applying a questionnaire and findings were discussed. It is concluded that the guests visiting farms are mostly volunteers, interns, semivoluntaries, also they are domestic and foreign visitors who pay for accommodation. Although promotion and marketing activities of farms are conducted by the Wheat Marketing Association, farms also market their organic products, advertise and sell these products. There is no human resources department in the farms, this task is provided by the owner or the manager of the farm. Besides in this paper after dicussion of the findings, some suggestions are offered for the local and central authorities, farm managers and researchers.
Keywords
Alternative Tourism, Ecotourism, Farm Tourism, Organic Ecotourism Farms.
