Determining the Attitudes of Local People Towards Tourism and Its Effects: A Case Study From Afyonkarahisar

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Due to its great natural, historical, and cultural potentials, tourism plays an important role in Afyonkarahisar in vitalization of its economy and in causing changes in its land use especially in the recent years. The effects of tourism are becoming more visible especially on environment, historicalcultural resources, and economy in the city which is developing very fast. Understanding economic, environmental, and socio-cultural effects of tourism is very vital in order to have a sustainable tourism in Afyonkarahisar. For this reason, in this study, a survey was conducted in Afyonkarahisar to determine the attitudes of public towards tourism and its effects. The survey aimed at understanding how local people perceive tourism, how they spend their holiday, to what extend they are open to tourism, and what they think needs to be done to improve tourism in the city. The results of the survey revealed that local people approached developmental process of tourism positively in the city. As seen in the study, local people generally thought that investments should be increased in the city’s tourism sector because of its natural, historical and cultural potentials. The study also revealed that although local people were aware of the positive effects of tourism on economy and socio-cultural developments, they observed some adverse effects of tourism on environment in Afyonkarahisar.

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Afyonkarahisar , Tourism , Local People , Sustainable Tourism

International Journal of Geography and Geography Education

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International Journal of Geography and Geography Education