Eko-Destinasyon Olarak Santorini ve Ekolojik Turizm Potansiyelleri

Abstract

With the introduction of concepts of “sustainability” and “branding”, a phase of rapid change has began. On one hand, the tourism sector has turned to “ecological tourism” to preserve the ecological balance with consideration for future generations, to emphasise social values and to target regional income growth. On the other hand, the sector is in search of regions with values that can be branded in the tourism market as a “destination”. In this study, Greece’s prominent island Santorini, with its natural beauty and original volcanic architecture has been considered as a eco-destination point which could be effectively developed for ecological tourism. Following the related ecological tourism literature, the potentials of the ecological tourism in the island are presented in a table, environmental values and diversity of actions are synthesized by using SWOT analysis and recommendations are made regarding the ecological use compatible with the eco-tourism destination.