Sustainability of tourism industry in terms of water use: An analysis within the framework of environmental input-output model

The water resources that form the basis of living life are directly and indirectly basic production inputs for the tourism sector as in all economic activities. Historically, as a result of technological and scientific developments, lifestyles and consumption habits have changed with the increasing human population. The tourism sector is one of the most obvious examples of this. The tourism sector is seen as an important means of development, especially for underdeveloped country economies and, the tourism sector's dependence on natural resources has been the subject of many researches. In this study, sustainability of the tourism sector in terms of water resources was investigated through an environmental input-output model for Turkish economy. Input-output analysis, developed by Leontief and used to analyze inter-industrial relations, reveals a kind of sectoral production stucture in the economy and allows for the evaluation of the current sectoral situation and planning for future by expanding it to include environmental elements. In this study, increase in the tourism and water related final demand and the effect on sectoral output levels of tourism and water use were analyzed and the position of water consumption within Turkey's water resources has been identifed.