Sustainable Tourism Development in Turkey Literature review

Sustainable Tourism Development in Turkey - Literature review Example Tourism becomes couched in sustainable development, which is the ability to positively manage the assets inherent in the natural environment for the purpose of increasing the wealth and well being of the inhabitants of a certain region.   It should be possible to maintain this kind of management in the short and long run; hence the development ought to be sustainable. The problem Tosun finds with the definition of STD is that it proves idealistic in its assumption that all nations are able to effectively employ its tenets. STD was proposed by the WCED, predominantly made up of representatives from developed countries, which appeared not to consider the inferior capabilities of the developing nations to implement the schemes proposed by STD. The researcher argues that Turkey has not been able to sustain the development of tourism quite in the way proposed by the WCED. The heavy indebtedness of developing countries, on the whole, has made it necessary for tourism to be expanded in order to generate much-needed revenue (Teye, 2000, p. 2;). However, the concentration of power in the hands of a central government and the business owners of the tourism sector has prevented the wealth of tourism from being distributed â€Å"fairly† among the inhabitants of the tourist areas (Tosun and Timothy, 2001, p. 353). Tosun agrees with other researchers (Stoeckl et al. 2006) that planning is necessary for sustainable development, and lack of planning by weak local governments generates a host of problems for the tourist areas (Garlick, 2002). Population growth taxes the capacity of the environment as well as the infrastructure (Font and Ahjem, 1999), and far from integrating tourism into the â€Å"broader social environment† (Beeton, 2006), the erection by the elite of numerous hotels and large houses has pressured the sewage systems causing seepage into the groundwater. The tourists themselves, as well as others who take up second-homes in the tourist areas, have so encroached upon the land-space that overcrowding and marginalization of the indigenous people have resulted. Neither do many tourists nor business owners they seek to preserve the environment, but exploit the natural resources without thought of adverse effects. D’Sa concurs with this: â€Å"Ordinary Third World people (as opposed to the à ©lites) find tourism in its present form highly exploitative and socially damaging† (1999, p. 64).   Noise pollution from blaring horns and discos, land and water pollution by littering and waste disposal from yachts, resorts, etc. have also added to the strain on the environment.