SUSTAINABLE VISITOR MANAGEMENT IN PROTECTED AREAS: STRATEGIES AND TOOLS

National parks and other protected areas which are rich in natural and cultural resources values and offering economic recreational opportunities, more demanding with each passing day. More recreational uses negatively affect the resource values and visitor satisfaction. For the last 30 years in developed countries, visitor management has been discussed within the framework of sustainability. Visitor management frameworks based on recreational carrying capacity analyses have been developed and visitor management plans have been established. Visitor management strategies defined in these plans and have been developed the appropriate management tools in accordance with this strategies. In this study; visitor management strategies and management tools were examined and a unique classification system was developed. And also the issues were discussed on a national scale and presented proposals