Son yıllarda hem dünyada hem de Türkiye’de birçok alternatif turizm türünün ortaya çıktığıgörülmektedir. Günümüz turistinin beklentilerinin zamanla değişmesi, gürültü ve beton yığınlarından uzaklaşmak istemesi, doğal çevreyi ve kaliteli hizmeti aramasıve dünya görüşlerinin giderek gelişmesi onlarıyeni arayışlara itmektedir. Bütün bu arayışların sonucunda ortaya çıkan alternatif turizm kavramı, alışılagelmiştatil anlayışlarının değişmesine ve yeni turizm çeşitlerinin ortaya çıkmasına neden olmuştur. Konya ili de alternatif turizm açısından eşsiz değerlere ve avantajlıbir konuma sahip bulunmaktadır. Bu avantajın turizm sektörüne en iyi biçimde yansıtılması şehrin potansiyelini daha iyi kullanmasınısağlayarak ekonomik, sosyal ve kültürel kazanımlarınıartıracaktır. Bu çalışma ile coğrafi konumu, geçmişte değişik uygarlıklara ve kültürlere sahne olmuştoprakları, önemli doğal ve kültürel kaynaklarıyla Konya ilinin alternatif turizm potansiyeli incelenerek bu potansiyelin nasıl turizm sektörüne kazandırılabileceği ortaya konulmaya çalışılmıştır. Yapılan araştırma Konya bölgesinin alternatif turizm potansiyeli hakkında fikir vermesi, bu potansiyelinin geliştirilmesi sayesinde turizme sağlayabileceği katkıların ehemmiyetini ortaya koymasıve buna yönelik çözüm önerileri sunmasıaçısından önem teşkil etmektedir. Araştırmada veri toplama tekniği olarak anket yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Anket uygulaması150 adet yerli turiste, 100 adet yabancıturiste ve 100 adet turizm işletmesi yöneticisine uygulanmak üzere üç kategoride gerçekleştirilmiştir. Elde edilen veriler SPSS programında yüzde, frekans ve ki-kare yöntemleri kullanılarak analiz edilmiş, sonuçlar tablolar halinde değerlendirmeye tabi tutulmuştur. Bu çerçevede yapılan çalışmalar sonucunda Konya bölgesinin ulusal ve uluslararasıturizm hareketliliğini sağlayacak yeterli alternatif turizm potansiyeline sahip olduğu ancak bu potansiyelden yeteri kadar faydalanamadığısonucuna varılmıştır.

In our times every year, millions of people go other countries or regions by leaving their constant residents for a while and meet such social, cultural and psychological needs as sightseeing, relaxation, entertainment and learning there. Economically and socially, this event, which has comprehensive effects and is colled as tourism, composes a basic characteristic of today’s civilisation. Besides its economic, socio-cultural and environmental effects, tourism also has a relation with many sectors directly or indirectly, so it is an indispensable sector for countries, especially for the developing countries. In order to develop the country’s tourism and to benefit much more from its economic adventages, and on the other hand, to minimize its negative effects, stable tourism policies need to be found and put into practice. By means of an active policy, tourism may be enabled systematically to make much more contribution to the economy of the country. Year by year, the proportion of the global tourism in manufacturing is increasing and at the same time, the movement of tourism is moving from west to east. With this development the proportion, which the countries with touristic values get, shows increase. In paralel to the increase of the incomes; the increase in the investments of substructures and the developments in the field of health and security are among the important factors that help tourism develop. From this point of view, the touristic income of Turkey shows increase and Turkey incorporates its characteristic of being an attraction center with its strategic location, abundance of sea, sand and sun and wealth of cultural and natural resources. Depending upon the changing life standard and increasing environmental consciousness the quest of reformation and variety also increase. The usual concept of tourism composing of sea, sand and sun, gives its place gradully to the concepts of culture, history, local customs, adventure and entertainment. As an alternative to the mass tourism; such touristic movements as ecotourism, sustainable tourism, adventure tourism, environmentally sensitive tourism, nature-based tourism, green tourism, cultural tourism emerge. Thus, tourism goes towards rural areas eluding from coastal areas and journeys in certain times spread over the whole year. To increase diversity in tourism is important to evaluate in terms of natural beauty will be opened to tourism areas in Turkey. Moreover, the diversity of the tourism industry and exclude services to 12 months in tourism sector ınstead of only the increase in tourism revenues in the period of summer will provide a steady income creative effects for other periods. In addition, the regional development, development of tourism sites, people around the creation of employment, income distribution and as a result of the correction for the country's development in tourism sector diversification is a different importance in this regard. In recent years it has been observed that there are several alternative tourism styles arising. These tourism styles becoming important within the scope of touristy product variation has been effective in search of innovations in tourism due to getting today’s tourists far away from noise and concrete mass, searching natural environment and service in quality, increasing tourism awareness and level of education. Among these alternative tourism styles it is required to cope with some territorial priorities and standards in order to develop several tourism styles such as caving, hunting, congress, thermal, belief, culture, and etc. To be able to utilize from this advantage will only be possible by the means of determining these values and utilizing these values at the utmost level. Konya is a city that is worthy of notice with its natural resources, socio-cultural values, historical places, geographical location and production in industrial and commercial surroundings. Being one of the first residental places in the history of humankind which has the traces of many civilisations and was once the capital city of the Seljuks, Konya, with its natural beauties and historical places, has a significant tourism potential that is growing each year. Because it was the capital of the Seljuks, Konya also has numerous Islamic signs. The city, having a living history with khans, mosques, madrasas, caravanserays and domes left from the Seljuks, still goes on being a stamping ground by those who takes into consideration the saying of Mevlana -a well-known philosopher all around the world- “Whoever you are, come ”. The city’s being in the triangle of Antalya-Kapadokya-Pamukkale, on a large scale; being on the way of culture tours from İstanbul, İzmir, Antalya and the abundance and variety of its cultural values cause it to become an important touristic destination. In Turkey, first of all being one of the most visited museum; Mevlana, Çatalhöyük with its 9000 years history, Meke Lake that is known as the world’s blue bead, the biggest fresh-water lake of Turkey; Beyşehir Lake and with its many architectural works of art Konya is a living history. Besides these physical beings, the tolerance and hospitality of the local people compose the sociocultural substructure that is necessary for the development of tourism. Despite these characteristics, Konya benefits from tourism and thus from alternative tourism less than its real potential. It is believed that the city, located at the center of Anatolia, is not only suitable for belief tourism but also for at first cultural tourism, for congress tourism with a well-planned advertisement, for health tourism with its natural wealth. The city is also believed to have potential power of attraction with the cultural inheritance of its public. Thus, in order to increase the value of this potential the investments of tourism needs to be diversified. Besides belief tourism, it needs to be eluded to other sides and some work needs to be done to spread tourism to the whole of the year. With such alternative touristic opportunities as high plateau, cave, ornithology, birdwatching and camping-caravan, the tourism in Konya will start diversifying through getting rid of monotony by means of developing and activating the available potentials of different regions and spreading the tourism to the whole year and region. Because the region is a city that has historical, natural, cultural values and qualified manpower with sub and superstructures all of which are necessary for variety. However it should not be forgotten that this available potential requires to be determined properly and planned well and the authorities are charged with significant duties. Undoubtedly, the most important way of this is advertisement. Having such an international fame as Mevlana, the city should use this as much as possible and gather the whole touristic characteristics in this frame. By this study, it is tried to be examined that potential of Konya Province to alternative due to its geopolitics position, lands were to be stage for various civilizations and cultures in the past, significant natural and cultural resources combined with the historical texture complementing the natural museum, and stated how this potential may be brought into tourism industry. This study is so significant that to be able to give an idea concerning the alternative tourism potential of Konya Province, setting forth the significance of the contributions might be made owing to improving this potential and offering the solution in this scope. In this study survey method was used as the data collection technique. The survey implementation was conducted on three categories including 150 domestic tourists, 100 foreigner tourists, and managers of 100 tourism enterprises. The obtained results was analyzed by using percentage, frequency and x-square methods applied in SPSS software, and the results were subjected to assessment as in form of tables. As a consequence of the studies conducted on this scope, it is understood that the district of Konya has sufficient alternative tourism potential to provide the national and international tourism activity, however this potential is not utilized so sufficient as to provide this activity