Evaluation of Side ancient city in the scope of sustainable tourism criteria

The concept of sustainability has emerged as a result of negative effects caused by over production and consumption. With the rapid increase in production, natural resources deplete, and with the rapid increase in consumption, environmental pollution occurs. As a result of this, the concept of sustainability which aims to avoid the factors that become a threat for the generations to come, has occurred. The rapid growth of tourism sector causes mass density, and the increase in mass density causes environmental pollution and depletion of non-renewable resources. Recently, however, types of tourism have emerged as an alternative to mass tourism. Alternative tourism promotes sustainability through a selective marketing process with the aim of attracting environmentally sensitive tourists who respect the natural and cultural components of tourism destinations and are conservation conscious and culturally sensitive when using the natural and cultural assets of tourism. As tourism has an important role in the usage of non-renewable resources, it has merged with the concept of sustainability, which aims to prevent environmental damage and to pass the natural resources on to future generations, and has created the concept of sustainable tourism. Side Ancient City is an Eastern Pamfilya city located in Manavgat district of Antalya and known as the most important city of Pamfilya. In the ancient period, the fact that transport and trade was carried out by sea played a major role in the development of Side and the continuity of life here. The aim of this study is to evaluate the ancient city of Side within the scope of sustainable tourism criteria. The research was conducted using a qualitative method based on the semantic interpretivist paradigm. Data were collected from the participants by interview technique. As a result of the research, the deficiencies of the ancient city of Side in terms of sustainable aspects were determined and suggestions were presented accordingly. Keywords: Sustainable Tourism, Sustainability, Side Ancient City, Ancient Cities.