MEDITERRANEAN ACTION PLAN

Annexe 2
Etudes de cas
Case studies
2.14 Land use planning in Belek - Tourism investment area * -
TURKEY
Dear Colleagues, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks for organising this workshop.
It is a great honour and privilege for me to participate in this workshop.
I hope this workshop will contribute to the attempts carried and by all related
authorities and organisations in all countries.
As you all know, Turkey, in possession of kilometres of unpolluted coastline, mild
climate, rich cultural and natural assets, was and still is a popular holiday
destination in travel industry.
The natural landscape of Turkey is as rich and diverse as its historical landscape.
The Turkish landscape has the combined characteristics of the three oldest
continents, Europe, Africa and Asia.
In addition to our cultural and natural values, a series of organisational and the
legislative arrangements undertaken by the Ministry of Tourism have developed
tourism industry in recent years.
The existing bed capacity is a total of 650 000, 345 000 of it is licensed by the
Ministry of Tourism. In 1990 it was 307 000.
Turkey's share in the world tourism activities and its share in the world tourism
revenues are also increasing.
Tourism Policy
The main principles of Turkish Tourism Policy comes under three headings:
1. To create an efficient tourism sector with a high international competitiveness;
2. To meet the needs of foreign and domestic tourists and the resident population,
to develop social tourism facilities, to extend the economic benefits of tourism to
the people;
3. To ensure the continuity of natural and cultural assets.
The existing bed capacity figures show that Turkey has not yet reached the
saturation point that is reached in some other Mediterranean countries. As a
young tourist destination, Turkey is enjoying the advance of not having
experienced the development of "mass tourism facilities", which took place rapidly
in the seventies in the other Mediterranean destinations.
The increasing environmental awareness in the world and in Turkey towards the
end of 80’ has initiated new concepts such as "sustainable development" and "soft
tourism". Within this context the state has assumed a new role which put more
emphasis on increasing the quality of life for all participants of the tourism
activity. Mainly this role made the initiators of the tourism development, namely
* Author: Mr. Ferhat Ozkan, Head of Section, General Directorate of Investments, Ministry of
Tourism, Ankara, Turkey.
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Plan Bleu