Abstract
INVESTIGATION OF TOURISM POTENTIAL OF WATERFALLS OF TURKEY WITH GEOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVE
Waterfalls emerge when water falls from a knickpoint occurring in the stream bed for whatever reason. These landforms, which are natural formations, are attention-grabbing for tourists besides their hydro-geomorphological importance. This study aims to introduce the noteworthy waterfalls of Turkey introduced to the related literature and to reveal their importance. This study is significant because it is a pioneering research for highlighting the importance of Turkey’s waterfalls for tourism, and it may contribute to advertising and planning activities. In addition, obtained findings and results may contribute to theoretical studies and hypotheses on this subject and provide a source for scientists who are to study in this field. This study, which is a literature review, provides a detailed examination of geographical studies on Turkey’s waterfalls and analyzes the obtained data historically and critically from a collective point of view. Finally, the obtained data are evaluated through SWOT analysis, and various suggestions are put forward from a new perspective. It is concluded that the natural environment features of Turkey have a potential allowing the emergence of many waterfalls; the number of studies on these waterfalls is inadequate; and there are three main touristic problems in Turkey’s waterfalls: lack of planning, lack of advertising, and lack of research. Accordingly, sustainable planning and advertising activities should be carried out on registered waterfalls in the first place. More detailed research should be carried out in coordination with these activities. Moreover, there is a need to explore new natural formations of this sort that have not been introduced to the literature yet though they have a tourism potential.
Keywords
Waterfall, Planning, Tourism, Literature Review, Turkey.
