Alternatif Bir Turizm Rotası: Kurtalan Ekspresi (An Alternative Tourism Route: Kurtalan Express)

Abstract

Tourism Routes are a type of travel that brings together a diverse array of attractions within a single central theme and moves regional tourism to travel from one place to another. In recent years, the demands of tourists to alternative tourism routes have increased considerably in Turkey. One of the most popular of these routes is the railway express service lies from east to west of Turkey. These express train services connect the western part of the country with the eastern part and also pass through natural, cultural and historical regions which are very interesting in terms of tourism. One of the most important railroad of these routes is the Kurtalan Express. The Kurtalan Express, which is made as the subject of films and songs, is an important transportation link between the south and the west of Turkey and is also an important route access many tourist areas such as Mardin, Hasankeyf, Diyarbakir, Tillo and Veysel Karani. The main purpose of the study is to evaluate the Kurtalan Express which has been a transportation route for a long time in a way that could be subject to tourism and to contribute to the removal of the backwardness of the South-eastern Anatolia region through tourism. As a method in the study, a general evaluation was made primarily on the route and railway tourism. Then the Kurtalan Express and the sites on the route were visited, land surveys were conducted and travel-observation methods were applied. As a result of field surveys, suitable areas for alternative tourism were determined in the region. Thus, tourism types and activities that can be done along the route have been determined. According to the findings obtained in the study, it is understood that many of the areas on the Kurtalan Express route have very interesting attractions in terms of tourism and that they can be tourism centre with the right tourism policies.