Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
attractions for which Turkey has considerable
supply potential (see Table 21.1). As an exam-
ple, cultural tourism will be considered here
both because it appears to have the greatest
potential in terms of supply and demand, and
because cultural tourism can be seen to be a
more complex phenomenon than other poten-
tial forms of tourism development.
heritage of certain regions in the country.
This may lead tour guides to be more knowl-
edgeable and experienced in a few regions
of the country where certain cultural and
historical heritage exist. Eventually, such
specialization of tour guides will result in a
higher
level
of
tourist
satisfaction from
guided tours.
Facility
and
environmental
planning
for
●
cultural tourism should be pursued.
Changing demographic structures and life-
styles suggest that the value of non-traditional
forms of tourism, particularly related to natural
and cultural heritage, will increase gradually
(Klein, 2001, p. 1; CEC, 2003).
Cultural tourism
With its historic and cultural heritage, diverse
lifestyle, food and people, Turkey demonstra-
tes enormous potential for cultural tourism.
Given the considerable cultural differences
with its main competitors in the Mediterranean
basin, Turkey has a unique opportunity to meet
cultural and coastal oriented tourism demand
simultaneously, through balanced, integrated
destination marketing strategies and regional
collaboration. Accession to the EU may activate
a large potential demand for cultural tourism,
and thus Turkey needs to prepare itself for this.
Cultural heritage can be employed to assist the
move towards sustainable tourism development
in a number of ways:
The need for a new destination image
Two elements require change: the image of a
cheap mass tourism destination solely visited by
downmarket sun-, sea-, sand- and sex-oriented
tourists, and the pejorative historical construc-
tion of 'Turk', 'Turkish' and the 'other Europe'
held in the West (e.g. Aktan, 2004; Kanli, 2004;
Paris, 2004). In cooperation with appropriate
ministries, including that for foreign affairs, tour-
ism authorities need to promote Turkey as a
bridge between civilizations and cultures. While
the existence of diverse cultural heritage built
by different civilizations, and meeting points of
Muslim and Christian civilization are emphasized,
peace, security, safety, stability, modernity and
high standards of facilities provided for tourist
and community should be promoted in the
establishment of a new destination image for
Turkey. However, appropriate wider political
and economic circumstances are needed to
establish a suitable environment for this.
A comprehensive inventory of cultural
heritage resources should be made.
●
Strict measures should be taken to protect
cultural heritage.
●
Human resource planning should be in place
to develop and manage cultural heritage as a
tourism product. A comprehensive training
programme should be designed and imple-
mented for those working in such areas of
cultural heritage as museums, historic build-
ings and historic sites.
●
With local community participation, the
scope and context of cultural events and
values should be determined for promoting
cultural tourism products. There should be
no compromising of cultural authenticity for
the sake of short-term economic benefits.
●
Restructuring the public administration
of tourism
Tour guides should be trained to present
cultural heritage, but given the diverse
range of civilizations and their cultural heri-
tages found in Turkey (see Table 21.1), a
careful specialization programme for tour
guides may be necessary. In this regard, it
may be argued that tour guides should be
encouraged to specialize in the cultural
●
Local governments in Turkey lack power and
financial resources to respond to public and
tourists needs effectively (Tosun, 1998). The
structure of local government reflects bureau-
cratic and fiscal concerns of central government
rather than acting as a source of local democratic
participation (Tosun, 2006). Therefore, without
