Abstract
A Research on the Perceptions of Residents towards Ecotourism and Ecotourism Areas within the Bartın Province
Today, due to the increasing population particularly within the urban areas and due to the negative impacts of urbanization, people prefer and tend to escape from those urban areas and their negative impacts. Apart from the usual touristic activities, ecotourism which is performed in natural and rural areas, which preserves the resources has emerged as a new type of tourism and a recreational activity during the last decade. The 56% of the Bartın Province is covered with the mountainous lands and about 95% of the Province carries the rural characteristics. Bartın Province; primarily known with its historical and cultural characteristics, also constitutes distinct land use types with the topographical variety ranging from coastal zones to the mountainous lands. The vegetation and wildlife diversity of the mountainous areas of Bartin, important geological formations and historical values in the coastal areas, the diversity provided by the Bartın River and its branches and the presence of featured settlements in rural areas offer important opportunities for ecotourism. However, these values are not used sufficiently. This is important to ensure that resources are not damaged and that sustainability is ensured. The development and usage of the natural and cultural values for ecotourism activities will diversify the tourism activities and mitigate the social pressure at the coastal zones. In this study, the awareness of the residents towards landscape characteristics and resource values which are suitable for ecotourism activities and the utilization of these resources are investigated. Most of these lands are not used because of the inadequacy of transportation and infrastructure. In the context of this study, the usage extent of the available lands and the suitability of transportation and infrastructure for the ecotourism activities are evaluated. According to the results of this study, the lands compatible for ecotourism have known but were not used sufficiently because of the transportation and infrastructure deficiencies. These lands should be planned according to ecotourism activities and be used without exceeding the carrying capacity.
Keywords
Ecotourism, User Perception, Rural Areas, Mountainous Areas, Bartın.
