The Challenges on Sustainability of Alternative Forms of Tourism

Abstract

The concept of sustainability has long been a concern, while we face several environmental and sociocultural issues on the way of economic growth and development. However, the concept of sustainability has occurred in the tourism agenda regarding the negative impacts of mass tourism. It is well known that sustainability refers to the continuation of tourism activities and benefits of destinations whatever the scale and type of tourism. On the other hand, the aspects of sustainability match with the concept of alternative tourism, which is opposite to mass tourism by means of supply and demand. If the natural, historical, and cultural environment cannot be protected, there can be no expectations for sustainability in destination areas. From this manifest, we discuss what we understand from the sustainability of alternative tourism in the case of Turkey. Alternative tourism is also considered as a new tool for reducing regional disparities and increasing local development of relatively less-developed regions in Turkey. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on the role of alternative tourism for small historical villages due to the cultural and environmental sustainability and local involvement. In the case of Bursa (Cumalıkızık), how an historical village has become an alternative tourism destination and what the experiences are in terms of challenges on sustainability are the main questions. We propose an integrated approach through the combination of culture, nature, and rural tourism for the sustainability of Cumalıkızık.