Cultural Tourism as a Sustainable Tourism Type: The Case of Ephesus

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Negative impacts of tourism often occur as a result of massive utilization based on consumption. This comprehensive utilization characterized as mass tourism causes unrecoverable problems along with unplanned settlement and excess capacity usage. As a response to such problems, the concept of sustainable tourism was developed after the 1970s, in consequence of meetings initiated by international institutions such as the United Nations and the World Bank. Sustainable tourism can be described as maintenance of regional and local attractions -which are the sources for tourism- through preserving and developing. Cultural tourism, in the long run, can serve for the aim of sustainable tourism much more than mass tourism. Cultural assets of the ancient city of Ephesus constitute an important part of the heritage of world history thus, in order to convey Ephesus to future generations, it is necessary to suggest an optimal approach that will enable a sustainable usage and highlighting this ancient city –not remaining idle– as a tourism attraction. At this point, the aim of this research is to emphasize the elements that will support such an approach and present a theoretical frame that will contribute to the development of Ephesus area as a tourism region. The research area of this study, Ephesus, is a destination which serves tourism at a much lower level than its capacity despite the cultural values it has. Not creating a consistent tourism market, wrong strategic approaches and insufficient planning are among the general reasons of this situation.

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Sustainable tourism , Cultural tourism , Ephesus , Carrying capacity

Aegean Geographical Journal

34

Aegean Geographical Journal