Marine tourism strategies in Turkey: An analysis for İzmir

The overall idea behind this study is recommendational belief and thought that within the scope of the existing marine tourism strategies in Turkey, as a particular part of this strategy, marine tourism in Izmir needs to get supported, improved and sustainably promoted by means of effectively carrying out the required activities along with increasing the academic studies particularly related with this precious part of the strategy. The purpose of this research is to reveal the strengths/weaknesses as well as the opportunities/threats regarding the marine tourism in Izmir and based on such a SWOT analysis offering and discuss the basic elements of marine tourism strategies to be implemented in Izmir. To do this, certain semi-structured in-depth interviews have been conducted through a group of experts (n=14) representing the stakeholders of marine tourism in Izmir, and the data collected through these interviews have been coded. The overall results of analysis reveal that Izmir cannot fully enjoy the benefits of marine tourism despite coastal richness and the climatic advantages it has which are quite proper for marine tourism. The basic reason for this failure revealed through the interviews is thought to be the lack of leadership facilitating the required communication and coordination among the relevant stakeholders. Based on the data collected and discussed, 63 points of the strategy have been determined within five categories. As an overall result, it has been concluded that under an effective leadership a commission is to be established through which all the stakeholders should be gathered to discuss and analyze the strategies determined. By means of the future studies to be carried out, these strategies could act as an instrument for data collection and offered to be discussed by all the stakeholders of marine tourism in Izmir.