Competitive Performance of Coastal Tourism Destinations from a Blue Economy Perspective: A TOPSIS Analysis

This study aims to comparatively evaluate the sustainable competitive performance of destinations where coastal tourism is concentrated in Turkey from the perspective of the blue economy approach, using TOPSIS, a multi-criteria decision-making method. In the analysis, the number of accommodation establishments representing the economic infrastructure of coastal tourism and the number of Blue Flag beaches reflecting environmental quality and sustainable coastal management were selected as decision criteria. In this context, Antalya emerges as the destination closest to the ideal solution due to its ability to maintain environmental quality despite intensive tourism activities, while Muğla ranks second as a result of a more balanced spatial distribution of tourism activities across the destination. İzmir, Aydın, and Mersin, respectively, exhibit relatively lower performance levels owing to the limited representation of tourism infrastructure and environmental indicators at the destination scale. This situation reveals that the performance differences observed among coastal destinations in Turkiye are becoming more visible through indicators that reflect both infrastructure capacity and environmental quality.