Land Use/Land Cover Changes in a Mediterranean Summer Tourism Destination in Turkey

Abstract

Tourism contributes to national and local economies especially in the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts of Turkey including the study area, Fethiye-Göcek, Muğla in southwest Turkey. The study evaluates land use/land cover (LULC) changes driven by tourism development as a case considering the past (1995–2020) and future environmental impacts on the area. High-resolution remote sensing and some socio-economic data were employed to monitor the situation and causes of LULC changes using Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST). The results show a decrease in the size of water surface, forest and maquis lands due to tourism development together with an increase in urban fabrics and bare lands due to urbanisation and forest fires. A significant positive correlation was detected between the urbanisation rate, population size and built-up area as well as air temperature and LST. Rapid and unplanned tourism development boosted investments for infrastructure and facilities and thus increased the demands for lands. Such lands were mostly gained by filling the sea or transforming agricultural and greenhouse areas, forest and maquis-covered lands. The unplanned development of tourism and urban areas caused serious hazards to the natural and cultural areas which threaten the sustainability of tourism. Planning suggestions are proposed to decision makers like coordination works for sustainable and responsible tourism development.