Permaculture practices in Turkey in the context of sustainable tourism

Although the increasing importance of the tourism sector and it is very important source of income in Turkey and in the World, tourism activities in Turkey are largely based on traditional tourism known as sea-sand-sun. However, with the new searches the sustainability of scarce environmental resources gains importance and it has become a necessity for Turkey to diversify in tourism. Ensuring sustainable development in this sector is also important in terms of sustainable development. There are many sectors that tourism directly and indirectly affects and is affected by. The agricultural sector is one of them. The agricultural sector, which is a source for meeting the food and beverage needs of tourists, has also become an alternative tourism type. At this point, agricultural tourism, which is one of the nature-based special interest tourism types, stands out as an important alternative that also eliminates the periodicity problem of tourism activities. Permaculture applications, which offer a unique infrastructure for agricultural tourism activities, will be an option that can both ensure the continuity and diversity of tourism and attract a nature-sensitive tourist profile with the philosophy of designing self-sufficient living spaces. Permaculture practices are sustainable agricultural practices that have increased in importance in recent years. Tourism activities can also be carried out on the farms where these applications are made. In this context, since the determination of permaculture practices in Turkey is important in the context of sustainable tourism, the main purpose of the thesis is to determine the current status of permaculture practices in Turkey and to reveal the relationship between these practices and sustainable tourism. In this study, written and visual materials related to permaculture in Turkey were analyzed by document analysis method and presented by analyzing with descriptive analysis method. First of all, the sustainability problems of tourism in Turkey have been mentioned, then the role of permaculture practices in solving these problems has been emphasized. The farms where permaculture practices are carried out in Turkey have been examined and best practices have been presented as examples. It has been concluded that there are exemplary practices, although not at a sufficient level, but permaculture practices, which are so important in terms of sustainability, should be carried out in a more integrated and more systematic manner in coordination with tourism stakeholders.