TOURISM AND PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY IN THE EARLY YEARS

Concept of tourism that was began to establish a presence in the world from the midst of 19th century has become a fact that politically, economically, socially and culturally shapes the future of many countries in the course of time. Tourism activities begun to attract attention in the final periods of the Ottoman Empire by virtue of its importance, but it is seen that the serious studies on this matter have been made during the initial years of the Republic of Turkey. Tourism and promotional activities that were began to handle properly in this period, has been carried out by the leading and directing initiatives and support of the state, furthermore, the tourism activities attracted the attentions of the culture and tourism originated associations and private sector. By the propaganda activities made for this purpose, such as promoting the natural and cultural values of Turkey, developing the international relations mainly by the neighboring countries, increasing the domestic and intercountry accommodation activities and using the economic income gained from the tourism activities for the development of Turkey as an effective power have been come up as a main target. In this connection it is seen that the infrastructure works began to prove fruitful and both domestic and foreign tourism activities gained acceleration.Tourism and promotional activities between 1923 and 1938 covering the early years of the Republic, together particularly with the legislative regulations that were made concerning the main subject, the works that were made on research, preservation and museology on travel, accommodation and transport services, international meeting, training, press and publications, culture, history and archaeology have constituted an integrity. For this reason, the works that were made on the fields in question has created the main theme of our article.