Coğrafi Bilimler Dergisi (Apr 2004)

DAĞCILIK VE DAĞ TURİZMİNDEKİ İKİLEM: EKONOMİK YARAR ve EKOLOJİK BEDEL

  • Mehmet SOMUNCU

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1501/Cogbil_0000000041
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2, no. 1
pp. 1 – 21

Abstract

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Mountaineering is the sport of climbing mountains and it involves walking, rockclimbing, ice climbing and ski-mountaineering. The sport of mountaineering emerged when people began to climb for pleasure in the Alps. Although a few people climbed to the mountains at the beginning, only after the establishment of the first clubs, climbing mountains became a popular recreational activity in European countries, particularly in Britain, Germany, Austria, Italy and France. Today, all over the world, millions of people practice mountaineering, rock-climbing and hiking/trekking. The mountaineer often travels to climb from their home to other regions or countries. Teherefore, mountaineering has become not only a mass sport activity, but also a mass tourism movement. The popularity of mountaineering-oriented tourism has increased in the past 35 years and it has spread from traditional locations such as the Alps and the Rocky Mountains to mountain areas that had been largely untouched by such activities-including parts of Central Asia, the Himalaya/Karakorum, Caucasus, Andes and even Antarctica. Mountain tourism is a rapidly growing sector of the tourism economy. It made and makes a significant contribution to the development of mountain areas. But at the same time, uncontrolled mountain tourism has and continious to contribute to the degredation of many mountain areas of natural and cultural values. In an increasingly urbanized world, mountains are primary tourist destinations not only because of their beauty and their natural and cultural diversity, but also because they provide opportunities to escape from stress of modern life. But in the long term to protected the diversity and attractiveness of the mountains will depend on careful, for-sighted and sustainable management of their resources. Therefore, on the management of mountain areas must be strived for a careful balance between the protection of natural resources, the needs of local people, and the desire of tourists

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