Investigations on visitor management tools developed to secure protection-utilization balance in the national parks of Turkey

National parks and other protected areas which are rich in natural and cultural resources values and offering economic recreational opportunities, more demanding with each passing day. More recreational uses negatively affect the resource values and visitor satisfaction. For the last 30 years in developed countries, visitor management has been discussed within the framework of sustainability. Visitor management frameworks based on recreational carrying capacity analyses have been developed and visitor management plans have been established. Visitor management strategies defined in these plans and have been developed the appropriate management tools in accordance with this strategies. In this study has investigated national park plans, encountered problems and applied visitors management tools in national park. As well as, it has created a questionnaire to obtain detailed information about the national park and has been forwarded to the National Park Directorate. The obtained data were evaluated, carrying capacity has been determined rates of more than 80% of the national park to take advantage of the analysis. Analyzing the intensity in recreational activities in national parks, picnic areas and historical and archaeological sites has been determined to be the most crowded. One of the most important challenges facing the management of national parks has been found to be less than the number of employees. Finally, designated visitor management tools have not been applied sufficiently in natural parks. Key Words: National parks, Visitor management, Visitor management strategies, Visitor management tools