Status of the Touristic Activities in Kars Province, With Its Natural and Human Characteristics

43694

Located in the northeast of Turkey, the province of Kars lies on Kars Plateau that has an approximate altitude of 2000 meters and is covered in many places with volcanic materials. The province, where a harsh continental climate is experienced with the impact of the existing topographical conditions, not only enjoys numerous attraction elements, but also carries the cultural traces of a number of civilizations due to its position on the historical transportation roads connecting Caucasia to Anatolia and Iran to the Black Sea, as well as holding a significant attraction element in terms of human-oriented tourism elements. There are 41 (forty-one) accommodation facilities with 2601 bed capacity in total, which set an infrastructure for tourism and which are capable of responding to various needs, in the province where many natural and human touristic elements that could create a source of attraction for tourism activities, and the qualities and quantities of such facilities enhance in parallel with the increasing touristic demand. While the number of touristic visitors rise as an outcome of a general tendency to increase in recent years towards Kars province, approximately 250.000 tourists in total visited the province, 230.000 domestic and 19.000 foreign, and the average time of accommodation of a tourist equals to 1.3 days. In the province where it has been understood that the current touristic potential has not been evaluated sufficiently, it is considered that the number of arriving tourists can rise to a certain extent with the help of promotional and marketing activities to be carried out.

134

Kars , tourism , recreation , tourism potential

International Journal of Geography and Geography Education

154

International Journal of Geography and Geography Education