DETERMINING THE ROUTE FOR NATURE AND CULTURE TOURISM WITH THE LEAST COST PATH ANALYSIS IN NATURAL PROTECTED AREA (CAPPADOCIA REGION)

Abstract

The Cappadocia Region is an important memory place that has memorial and symbolic values as well as its natural and cultural riches. These values should be transferred to the next generations and their national and international recognition should be ensured through sustainable tourism approaches. In this paper, it is aimed to determine the most appropriate route to ensure sustainable tourism planning in the Cappadocia Region and the recognition of the natural and cultural areas of the region in national and international platforms. Within the scope of the research, the Least Cost Path (LCP) analysis was performed in ArcGIS 10.5, which is a GIS software, and the region's slope groups, land cover and settlement centers with high tourism potential were used as inventory. The fact that LCP analysis can be used in different tourism activities such as mountaineering, birdwatching, horse riding and camping as well as nature walks and the fact that it can be used to reach the determined regions, emphasize the widespread value of the study.