An innovative culture route proposal in destination management of Cappadocia region

Abstract

Cappadocia Region, which has a rich and authentic motif in its historical and cultural context, hosts thousands of visitors every year. This mystical destination, which allows tourism activities throughout the year with its values, is very attractive in terms of geomorphology, belief, culture, archaeology and other alternative tourism types. In terms of introducing the existing and/or unearthed cultural values of this region, which currently hosts countless tourists, and at the same time gaining an innovative and different perspective to cultural tourism, research has been carried out on the proposal of an integrated or new route covering the Gülağaç district of Aksaray, which is thought to be relatively overshadowed. In the light of the information obtainedfrom the answers given to three open-ended questions directed to the participants about including Gülağaç in cultural tourism routes and/or developing an innovative route; it has been observed that there is a common opinion that the awareness and recognition levels of destinations with high cultural and heritage attractiveness can be increased through tourism. As well as being a remedial way for over tourism; this research, which serves the purposes of increasing destination loyalty by increasing factors of attractiveness, updating and developing innovative cultural routes and tourism activities, and keeping other heritage elements alive in the region, is considered to be a collective study focusing on many disciplines such as archeology, history, art and tourism.