Kadir Çokçetin, Director General of Nature Conservation and National Parks (DKMP) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, noted that the annual visitor numbers to protected areas significant for nature tourism rose from 5.5 million in 2002 to 64.7 million last year. Çokçetin discussed the efforts made in these protected areas and the visitor statistics.
Çokçetin highlighted that as the General Directorate, they continue to expand Turkey’s wealth of protected areas every year, mentioning that last year they declared 21 new areas under different conservation statuses.
THE NUMBER OF PROTECTED AREAS REACHED 660
Çokçetin mentioned that as a result, the number of protected areas reached 660, including 48 national parks, 266 nature parks, 110 natural monuments, 31 nature conservation areas, 85 wildlife development areas, 14 Ramsar sites, 59 wetlands of national importance, and 47 wetlands of local importance. He stated that they strive to preserve these areas due to their significant natural resources and have undertaken site developments to meet visitors’ needs, including visitor centers, accommodation facilities, viewing terraces, tour routes, and adventure trails.
Çokçetin expressed that their goal is to enable more citizens to enjoy nature, saying:
‘With these efforts, we see an increased interest in nature among our people. The annual visitor count to our protected areas has surged from 5.5 million in 2002 to 64,679,581 today. We protect our protected areas together with our visitors and highly value their suggestions. Therefore, we regularly conduct satisfaction surveys for our visitors. From these surveys, we learned that 85% of the visitors were satisfied with their experience. We ask our citizens to be sensitive about maintaining the balance between protection and use of these areas.’
LAST YEAR, MARMARIS NATIONAL PARK WAS THE MOST VISITED
Çokçetin mentioned that they prepared the Nature Tourism Master and Nature Tourism Protected Area Implementation Action Plans, identifying potential nature tourism activities in Turkey and the areas that could accommodate these activities. They have also developed digital maps for nature tourism activities, including hiking, cycling, mountain biking, mountaineering, jeep and photo safaris, as well as historical and cultural routes.
Çokçetin shared that all this information has been transferred to the ‘Ekotaban Mobile Application,’ accessible on citizens’ smart devices. He also provided data on the most visited protected areas last year, stating that Marmaris National Park led with 11,069,465 visitors, followed by Beydağları Coastal National Park in Antalya with 7,007,060 visitors, and Ormanya Nature Park in Kocaeli with 4,172,130 visitors.
Çokçetin noted that protected areas primarily experience high visitor traffic during the summer months, stating, ‘Last year, we hosted nearly 30 million visitors in our protected areas during June, July, and August.’
