Climate Change and Tourism in Turkish Newspaper Publications

Abstract

Climate change, which has become one of the most important global problems of our age, both shows its effect on the tourism sector, as it does in many sectors, and is affected by the activities carried out depending on the sector. This two-way relationship between the tourism sector and climate change is discussed in the tourism literature from social, economic and ecological perspectives. In addition to scientific studies, it is also important to create a social awareness about climate change. Mass media plays an important role in creating this awareness. In this context, the aim of the study is to examine the news about tourism and climate change in newspapers, which is one of the mass media. In line with the purpose of the research, the news with content on climate change and tourism on the websites of 10 newspapers with the highest circulation as of June-July 2022 in Turkey were examined in a one-month period. Mixed content analysis was performed on accessed 187 news texts. The results showed that there are limited number of news (13 news) directly on climate change and tourism. It has been determined that the news about climate change is mostly handled within the scope of general effects of climate change such as drought, forest fires, loss of biodiversity, the effects of climate change on human health and other living species, and temperature increase. The limited number of news texts that deal with tourism and climate change together have shown parallelism in content with the news about the general effects of climate change.