Outdoor sports tourism in Sakarya

The movement of large masses in the aftermath of the industrial revolution in general, high-consumption and resource-intensive developing waste based on mass tourism, has started to leave an important share of tourism in alternative tourism. Nature sports tourism is one of the alternative tourism types which is based on a sense of responsibility, minimizing resource waste, sensitive to environmental and cultural structure, sustainability-oriented and based on local development. In this study one of the types of alternative tourism, nature sports tourism is discussed in the context of Sakarya province.Sakarya province, with its geographical characteristics, has an important potential in terms of tourism gives the opportunities those outdoor sports.Considering the potential and existing opportunities of the province, the areas where outdoor sports tourism can be developed and the determination of kinds of extreme sports in these areas constitute the main axis of the study. According to the data obtained from a large number of field studies and applications, ten (10) separate spatial areas which are suitable for nature sports activities have been formed in the province.The nature sports types that can be made for each of these areas were determined by the field studies and the obtained spatial data were combined with GPS records and transferred to maps and figures with ArcMap 10 and Google Earth Pro software. Again, a small sample of the scope of work (106 people) group as determined by a survey to measure the nature and outdoor sports are being made and the recognition by local people. A large proportion of these areas is low and it has been revealed that the recognition by the local community. According to all these results, Sakarya has been identified as having low potential but high potential for outdoor sports.Sakarya province has a significant advantage in terms of reachable tourist potential , accessible with close proximity to metropolitan cities like İstanbul,Ankara and Bursa.Considering the sustainable nature sports environment and environmentalist planning, we are expected to contribute significantly to regional development, especially in the development of rural areas of the province. For this purpose, it is necessary to establish a tourism action plan for Sakarya nature sports tourism, where the local people and policy producers are involved in the NGOs that are involved in the subject, and by increasing the recognition of these areas, the management of the rural population, which is the real owner of the area, should be managed with a sustainable understanding.