Ecotourism in the municipality of Cameli in Finnish and Scandinavian tourist view

The municipality of Cameli in Turkey participated in ecotourism development program in the year 2015. Since then, they have been able to rapidly grow the number of tourists annually. Most of the tourist are locals and foreigners usually visit the area during different sporting events. Cameli is aiming to grow the number of foreign tourists in the area. The research aim was to find out if the ecotourism concept in Cameli is in line with Finnish and Scandinavian tourists’ mindset, are the services offered in Cameli considered as ecotourism services, is Turkey a potential ecotourism destination and could they be potential target market. Quantitative research method was used, and the data was collected with a questionnaire. The questionnaire was published online and targeted to people who are permanently living in Finland. Scandinavian tourists’ mindset was studied using literature source about ecotourism in Scandinavia. The results showed that Finnish people do not consider Turkey as a potential ecotourism destination, but in their opinion most of the activities in Cameli are in line with their understanding about ecotourism. It was suggested that Cameli should emphasize experiments and alternative tourism when marketing their activities and services to tempt more foreign tourists to the area