Evaluation of Natural and Cultural Landscape Values within the Scope of Ecotourism: Case of Bilecik, Turkey

Abstract

This research is based on an ecotourism assessment of Bilecik province which can be approached within the context of tourism with its cultural, natural, and historical qualities. In line with this objective, it identifies the natural and cultural landscape values of the research area, ensuring the sustainability of these characteristics, specifying whether or not it is suitable for ecotourism, setting forth the approaches by visitors towards ecotourism, while ensuring it to serve as a model for ecotourism studies in the future within this area. The respondents were asked to address questions in order to show their preferences within the scope of 5-point likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Don’t know, 4 = Agree, and 5 = Strongly agree) and in the scope of ecotourism the cultural and natural values of Bilecik province were measured using 9 items. Survey-analysis and questionnaire processes of this study were carried out in summer 2018 to spring 2019. The gathered data was subjected to an analysis by utilization of normal statistical methods within SPSS version: A set of ecotourism opportunities items were defined using factor analysis, in order to designate the main and underlying factors, followed by a group mean comparison (t-test) in order to identify demographic information and availability factors.

Presenters

Parisa Göker
Associate Professor, Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, Bilecik Seyh Edebali University, Turkey

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

Economic, Social, and Cultural Context

KEYWORDS

Ecotourism, Cultural landscape, Natural landscape