A Debate on Turkey Tourism’s Adaptation to Climate Change

This chapter aims to present a debate on Turkey tourism’s adaptation to climate change by providing some key information about each geographical region and developing suggestions. Considering the characteristics of tourism activities and the expected changes in the climate, adaptation and mitigation strategies are proposed. Due to Turkey’s climatic/geographical variety, local strategies are also proposed along with general recommendations. From a methodological perspective, this chapter uses secondary data which include the relevant literature, tourism development information, and meteorological measurements and projections to interpret the climate change-tourism relation and adaptation/mitigation possibilities of Turkey’s geographical regions as tourism destinations. This study aims to trigger adaptation and mitigation discussions and efforts of Turkey tourism and provoke the industry and governing institutions to take actions. Making very detailed plans might take quite a lot of time for the practitioners; thus, some guiding information will be useful. A pioneering discussion, which this debate also addresses by examining all regions and developing recommendations with this literature-wise early setting, is required for better planning and decision-making for the future of tourism in such a challenging era of global climate change. The results and recommendations developed in this study may provide a starting point both for practitioners and researchers.