KARADENİZ'DE ALTERNATİF BİR TURİZM ÖNERİSİ: KRUVAZİYER TURİZMİ

Cruise tourism is growing in popularity. Currently, the Mediterranean Region stands as the second most visited destination by cruise lines, following the Caribbean. However, the Black Sea has lots to offer in terms of potential as well. Six countries border along it, and all have ports that visited by cruise ships. Türkiye has 25 such ports – the city-provinces of Trabzon, Sinop, Samsun, and Bartın being particularly popular. This paper aims to delve deeper into this particular topic, and offer ideas about where and how Türkiye could improve. for the improvement of the current potential. We’ve used both quantitative and qualitative data based on field research that involved travel and observation in Trabzon and Samsun. We also conducted a literature as well to access national and international statistics. Our findings show us that Türkiye’s Black Sea offer sufficient potential for cruise tourism, but international issues (e.g. the Russia-Ukraine crisis) as well as domestic issues (e.g. terror acts or infrastructural inadequacies) prevent that potential from being tapped. Hence, we feel that effort needs to be made in order to render the Black Sea safe for cruise lines. Other improvements that ought to be made concern the urban qualities, technical, and operational infrastructure required for cruise tourism in and around ports. The same goes for advertising and branding as well in order to cruise to the region.