WINTER TOURISM IN ALTERNATIVE TOURISM POLICIES: SWOT ANALYSIS FOR TURKEY

Cities that have become uninhabitable due to noise and air pollution, and also monotonous and stressful lives have led to the emergence of new tourism types that bring people closer to the nature. Therefore, intensive efforts are being made to develop alternative tourism opportunities. Thus, with the new tourism alternatives, it is aimed to spread the tourism to all the year around, and to establish the interregional equilibrium. Winter tourism is one of them. Winter tourism is a type of tourism that is evaluated within alternative tourism policies that accelerated their development with the change of people's holiday concept in order to spread the tourism to 12 months. The purpose of this study is to examine winter tourism, which is evaluated in alternative tourism policies, in order to ensure the continuity of tourism throughout the year by considering recent developments in winter sports. The importance of the winter tourism in Turkey was investigated. A SWOT analysis performed in regard with the winter tourism in Turkey; the weaknesses should be highlighted, such as lack of policy, low bed capacity, qualified personnel, adequate facilities for winter sports, and infrastructure, and also remaining of the facilities and personnel idle in summer. On the other hand, it also should be mentioned that the alive domestic tourism movements, existence of sufficient facilities, extended semester breaks, new year season and religious holidays make ski resorts attractive. Within the scope of opportunities for winter tourism; benefiting from the opportunities of the winter season, which is deemed as the dead season, the increase in number of participants (skiers) and the availability of areas that can still be opened for winter tourism can be listed. The risks that may occur due to the lack of sufficient transportation and mechanical facilities, giving preference to spend holidays in summer season because of schools, the reactions of the local people, global warming, terrorist incidents, avalanches and similar natural disasters are involved in the threat category for winter tourism