Alternative Tourism as a Solution of Overtourism

Abstract

Since the twentieth century, package tours that consisted ‘sea, sun and sand’ trio became fashionable. Over time, mass tourism caused rapid and unplanned use of natural, cultural, and environmental resources. This has damaged the natural, cultural and environmental resources in a way that is not possible to renew and reaches a level that is dangerous for future generations. The existence of the phenomenon of tourism continues to depend largely on the quality of the environment (Kozak, Akoğlan Kozak, and Kozak General tourism. Detay Publishing, 2014). Lankford and Howard (Ann Tour Res 21:121–139, 1994) and Butler (Prog Tour and Hosp Res 2:283–293, 1996) describe the harmful effects of overcrowding, noise, damage to physical assets, and reductions in tourist satisfaction. According to Doğan, mass tourism reduces communication between tourists and local people (Doğan, Socio-cultural foundations of tourism. Ofis Ofset Publications, Izmir, 1987, 123). Such negative effects can be reduced by developing customized holiday addressing the special interests of the consumers. Therefore, in addition to the sea-sand-sun trio, alternative tourism types that consist of special interest trips have gained importance. The damage caused by mass tourism on natural, cultural, and environmental resources and the casualization over time has created changes in consumers’ travel (holiday) expectations. As consumers started to opt for personalized, high-quality products and services, tourism product providers started to create alternatives that could meet different expectations. Also, the local people living in the regions where tourism is developing want to get a share from the tourism revenues, which has spread the tourism activity to the whole year, and it has started to increase the diversity of tourism products. Sustainable tourism has gained importance in order to minimize the negative effects of tourism. Alternative tourism is seen as an ideal way to eliminate the problems posed by mass tourism and to ensure sustainability. This chapter focuses on alternative tourism as a solution to the aforementioned problems of mass tourism.