THEME PARKS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF TOURISTIC PRODUCT DIVERSIFICATION: EXAMPLE OF KONYA

Abstract

Touristic product diversification has become inevitable for today’s tourism enterprises and destinations with the changing demand structure and increasingly competitive environment in tourism. Theme parks, prominent in connection with touristic product diversification and extension of the season to the whole year, are becoming increasingly common all over the world and in Turkey as an important element of tourism. Theme parks are one of the main motivation sources for tourists to visit any city and provide a competitive advantage that can not be ignored for the tourism destination in which they are situated. Considering the high investments, the number of visitors and the revenues obtained, it is seen that the theme park sector has become quite important. The aim of this study is to evaluate the existing theme parks in province of Konya and bring forward various proposals taking into consideration the development of the sector in the world and Turkey.