TOURISTIC FEASIBILITY OF TABLELANDS OF ARAC DISTRICT OF KASTAMONU PROVINCE-TURKEY FOR THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

摘要

Kastamonu province is surrounded by Küre Mountains in the north and Ilgaz Mountains in the south; 66.6% of the province is covered by forests. For this reason, the province has many tablelands hosting traditional architectural structure and culture. These tablelands, which are in harmony with the natural beauties, have been established for the purpose of animal husbandry initially. However, they are not sufficiently utilized nowadays. Ara? district of Kastamonu is the richest district in terms of tableland. If these tablelands, which have been left idle due to the intense rural-to-urban migration and the natural structure of which started deteriorating, can be provided with their prior natural structure and then opened for the touristic activities, then they might become an important dynamic of the regional development, because the primary objective of today's regional development policies is to realize the internal potential of regions. Form this aspect, by receiving the opinions of local people and business environment on this subject, the aim of present study is to determine the possibility of re-opening the tablelands of Ara? district of Kastamonu province to the touristic activities without deteriorating the traditional structure. Incapability of sufficiently fulfilling such an important tourism potential leads to the waste of a significant resource from the national and regional aspects.