Determination of Sakarya province ecotourism potential

Today, the rapidly increasing population in urban areas with the migration from rural to urban causes people to live in narrow areas under intense population pressure. This situation brings along many spatial problems in urban areas. An important topic among these problems is the scarcity of green areas per capita and the limitations in people's recreational activities. During the Covid 19 epidemic, this situation showed itself once again in the whole metropolitan city, and people's interest in nature and rural areas increased exponentially. The increasing interest in Ecotourism, the most attractive subset of the tourism industry, which contributes to the protection of natural resources and rural development, continued exponentially in this period. Ecotourism; It emerges as an alternative tourism type that is spreading rapidly in order to minimize the damage to the environment caused by the increasing world population and to transfer natural areas to the next generations in the best way. Ecotourism also ensures that the cultural values are protected, that the local people support the activities and that they take a role in the promotion and development of the region by adapting. The province of Sakarya, which is our study area, draws attention with its geographical location and diversity in its natural beauties, with the revival of ecotourism activities in recent years. The main purpose of this study is to identify and prioritize potential ecotourism areas in Sakarya by using the Geographical Information System (GIS) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Eleven different criteria maps were created and in this direction, the necessary criteria were obtained to determine the ecotourism suitability areas.Thus, Sakarya province ecotourism regions suitability map will be created and an important base data will be revealed for tourism planning activities to be carried out in this context.