Sustainable tourism approach after Covid 19 is one of the key features for recovery of the tourism industry. Covid 19 affected consumption patterns in economies in general with the threat of uncertainty and global health and tourism received its share. While travelers see other people as a threat to their health in this period, they position the nature as healing and reassuring.
To feel safe in terms of health while traveling around the world has become the first choice for many individuals and it is expected to continue in the coming period as an international standard. Other preference is that cancellation and return terms are flexible. Therefore, all tourism stakeholders will strive to act on a common platform in these issues and public-private sector cooperation associations will come to the forefront more. Although tourism will start to revive with domestic tourism all over the world in 2021, the implementation of international common decisions and business flows will continue. Safe travel, certification and digitalization gained with Covid 19 in tourism are expected to continue in the coming periods.
Importance of Sustainable Tourism
With the coronavirus, private and boutique trips come to the forefront rather than mass tourism. It will also take time for some types of tourism, such as M.I.C.E., to return to their old volumes. The fact that the interest in mass tourism may decrease is a risk for tourism countries like us, which provide a large part of the tourism income from this area, but it can be covered with the income to be obtained by focusing on the diversity of tourism in this direction together with a planned road map. Despite the fact that tourism diversity is not a new issue, it is an agenda that needs to be seriously managed in the coming period. In this sense, it is a great advantage that Turkey has high potential. If we evaluate this well, as a result, the seasonality problem we always talk about will also go towards a solution.
The process we call has provided us with strong awareness about how important it is to maintain the balances in the nature. It has also been seen how deeply all the countries of the world are connected to each other. Adopting a sustainable tourism approach in harmony with the world, making it applicable in all areas of tourism and spreading the awareness to all segments of the society have gained much more importance. If we can show the importance of protecting our great nature and rich cultural heritage to all stakeholders and travelers in the tourism sector and make them an indispensable part of every tourism project, we can be much more prepared to face all kinds of challenges (such as climate change, drought, epidemic diseases, political crises).
Turkey and Its Sustainable Tourism Approach
With the advantage of the resources we have, various tourism branches have been created in Turkey so far. Strengthening them further with sustainable projects will save us from vulnerability in tourism, prevent our competitors, and make employment in the sector dynamic by providing mobility in the local economy. For example, managing projects with sustainable tourism approach will make a significant difference even when performing mass tourism.
“Sustainable Community-Based Tourism” and “Health Tourism” are two important issues in terms of providing mobility not only for our guests coming from abroad but also in the country. Both are separated into sub-branches within themselves. In other words, diversity is increasing even more. It is a sign that we have a lot of roads to walk in these areas. Good results can be achieved with the right steps and decisions to be taken from the beginning.