A qualitative study on olive culture and olive therapy tourism of Madra Mountain: The example of Bahadınlı village

Today, changing consumer behaviours direct individuals from mass tourism to alternative tourism and special interest tourism types. At this point, tourism activities carried out in rural areas that are important and developing. Olive and olive oil tourism as a new type of tourism in rural areas where olive cultivation activities are carried out has started to be researched in the scientific literature since 2010. In the activities carried out within the scope of olive and olive oil tourism, the use of olive oil for health and healthy life is not included. From this perspective, the concept of olive therapy tourism (ZTT), which covers both olive and olive oil tourism activities and the use of olive oil for health and wellness, was developed and introduced to the scientific literature. The concept of ZTT includes all touristic and health and wellness activities carried out with olives and olive oil such as olive care, repair, harvesting and processing, olive and olive oil tasting, oleoteca visits, olive and olive oil museum visits, olive grove landscapes, olive gardening, olive and olive oil bathing, olive routes and olive monument tree visits. Bahadınlı Village of Burhaniye district of Balıkesir province (Bahadınlı, which became a neighbourhood as a result of the metropolitanisation of Balıkesir, is referred to as a village in this study due to its rural area characteristics) was selected as the research area due to its olive farming history and culture as well as the presence of olives and the quality of olive oil produced. The sample of the research consists of the headman of Bahadınlı village and the owners of olive oil businesses operating in the village. In the research, it was aimed to reveal the olive therapy tourism potential of Bahadınlı village by determining the perspective of Bahadınlı village headman and olive oil business owners on olive therapy tourism, The contributions they will provide and the ZTT activities that can be carried out in the region by using in-depth interviews from qualitative research methods. As a result of the research, the activities that can be carried out within the scope of olive therapy tourism in Bahadınlı village have been determined and it has been concluded that the business owners and the village headman want to develop tourism in the region and will contribute to touristic activities such as trips, harvests, festivals and festivals to be organised within the scope of olive therapy tourism.