The role of travel intermediaries in the development of sustainable mountain tourism: The case of Turkey

Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate the current situation of mountain tourism and its sustainability in Turkey. Not only the tourism policies of the government are enough to promote a new alternative tourism type, but also the role and effects of tourism middlemen such as travel agencies, tour operators, and tour wholesalers cannot be denied in the promotion of a destination. Mountain tourism could be one of the best alternative tourism opportunities for many destinations if they have sufficient resources, namely naturally attractive mountains and related infra and/or superstructure. Turkey and Aegean region have many attractive resources in this sense. In this research, in addition to analyzing the current situation in Turkey; ways of developing mountain tourism in a sustainable way as well as possible roles and effects of travel intermediaries in this area are questioned. With this purpose, the contents of the research vary differently. The first part depends on literature review presenting general definitions and discussions concerning mountain tourism. In the second part of the study, tourism policies in general and the mountain tourism policies of Turkish Government will be discussed. In the last part, the field survey is applied by developing and distributing questionnaire to major group A travel agencies in Turkey and outbound tour operators organizing tours to Turkey as well. The sample of the research consists of 83 firms and each was reached via e-mail. The data gained through the survey were analysed by computer based statistical program, SPSS 16. In the discussion part of the research, depending on the major findings, the comments and suggestions for further researches were developed.