Abstract

Planning is essential in order to ensure sustainable development of the regions where tourism starts to develop. Adoption of a participatory planning approach enables the community to benefit from the positive effects of tourism, while alleviating its negative effects. This paper aims to set forth the tourism potential of Gokceada, the largest island of Turkey, to determine the problems in relation with the development of tourism and to provide suggestions on the planning of the Island for the sake of sustainable development. Within this framework, the opinions of the local community on the island's tourism have been called upon by utilizing the Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) method. By evaluating the data obtained from RRA, which is considered as a form of the participatory approach, suggestions have been developed.

Key words: Rapid rural appraisal, community participation, sustainable tourism, Gokceada, island.