ARE THE BALKAN COUNTRIES CONVERGING IN TERMS OF TOURISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES?

Year 2024, Volume: 9 Issue: 4, 414 - 423

Mahmut Kadir İşgüven , Ayberk Şeker

https://doi.org/10.29106/fesa.1571788

Abstract

Although countries have their own interests and difficulties, it is important to develop common policies in the Balkan countries to promote environmental protection activities and sustainable tourism. The development of sustainable tourism policies has accelerated due to the fact that a significant number of Balkan countries have become members of the European Union and have complied with environmental legislation. In this study, carbon emissions, tourist arrivals, energy consumption, and urbanization levels in the Balkan countries are analyzed by the convergence model. As a result of the analyses, although there is no convergence in all variables across the Balkan countries, it has been observed that there is a conditional convergence within the groups that the countries form among themselves in terms of carbon emissions, number of tourists, electricity consumption and urbanization levels. These results of the convergence model show that the Balkan countries are converging in sub-clusters, but this convergence is not the case across the Balkan countries. Thus, it is revealed that the Balkan countries need to establish common environmental and sustainable tourism policies. As a result, the Balkan countries are converged to each other in terms of environmental policies and sustainable tourism activities, but in order to achieve success at the end of this process, it is important to ensure cooperation across the Balkan countries.

Keywords

Tourism, Environment, Convergency Model

BALKAN ÜLKELERİ TURİZM VE ÇEVRE POLİTİKALARI KAPSAMINDA YAKINSIYOR MU?

Abstract

Ülkelerin kendi menfaatleri ve zorlukları söz konusu olsa da Balkan ülkelerinde çevre koruma faaliyetlerinin ve sürdürülebilir turizmin teşvik edilmesi doğrultusunda ortak politikaların geliştirilmesi önem arz etmektedir. Balkan ülkelerinin önemli bölümü Avrupa Birliği’ne üye olması ve çevre mevzuatına uyum sağlanması sebebiyle sürdürülebilir turizm politikalarının geliştirilmesi hızlanmıştır. Gerçekleştirilen bu çalışma ile Balkan ülkelerinde karbon emisyonu, gelen turist sayıları, enerji tüketimi ve şehirleşme düzeyleri açısından yakınsama modeli vasıtasıyla analiz edilmiştir. Analizler sonucunda, Balkan ülkeleri genelinde tüm değişkenlerde yakınsama görülmemekle birlikte, karbon emisyonu miktarında, gelen turist sayılarında, elektrik tüketiminde ve şehirleşme düzeylerinde ülkelerin kendi aralarında oluşturdukları gruplar içerisinde koşullu yakınsadıkları görülmüştür. Yakınsama modelinin bu sonuçları, Balkan ülkelerinin alt kümeler halinde birbirlerine yakınsadıklarını, ancak Balkan ülkeleri genelinde bu yakınsamanın olmadığını göstermektedir. Böylelikle, Balkan ülkelerinin ortak çevre ve sürdürülebilir turizm politikaları oluşturmaları gerekliliği ortaya koyulmuştur. Sonuç olarak, Balkan ülkelerinin kendi aralarında çevre politikaları ve sürdürülebilir turizm faaliyetleri açısından giderek yakınlaştıkları, fakat bu sürecin sonunda başarı elde edilebilmesi için Balkan ülkeleri genelinde iş birliğinin sağlanması önem arz etmektedir.

Keywords

Turizm, Çevre, Yakınsama Modeli

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