THE EFFECTS OF TOURISM SECTOR ON URBANIZATION: THE CASE OF MANAVGAT1

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Tourism sector in Turkey, has showed a significant improvement since the beginning of 1980s especially due to the investments held in Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. This caused a process of urbanization based on tourism. Manavgat has been one of the settlements living this process. The purpose of this article is to examine the effects of tourism sector on urbanization in Manavgat with the help of social, economic and demographic indicators. For this purpose, data obtained from various institutions have been subjected to document analysis and the periods of significant changes in the statistical values that make up each data set have been emphasized. These periods have been associated with the development of the tourism sector in Manavgat and than the effects of the tourism sector on urbanization have been revealed. While Manavgat was a settlement with rural characteristics at the forefront, it has entered a rapid urbanization process since the early 1980s thanks to increasing tourism investments. Side, it developed as an important tourism region, had showed a separate spatial development from Manavgat until the 2000s. Despite this situation, that the population working in the tourism facilities in Side generally resides in Manavgat has affected the population characteristics and horizontal development of Manavgat as in Side. In recent years, Manavgat has expanded to include Side. However, tourism activities are not spread throughout the city and the heart of the tourism sector is mostly in Side. For this reason, it is of great importance for tourism to be directed from Side to Manavgat city center within the scope of integrated tourism.

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Tourism , Urbanization , Tourism Urbanization , Manavgat

International Journal of Geography and Geography Education

220

International Journal of Geography and Geography Education