Does Tourism Reduce Regional Inequality? Spatial Appearance of Tourism Development in Turkey

Interregional development disparities have emerged as one of the most controversial issues in contemporary discourse. Across the globe, disparities in various facets, including social, cultural, tourism, and economic dimensions, are strikingly evident. Turkey, a nation renowned for its importance in the global tourism landscape, is no exception to this phenomenon. The spatial distribution of tourism development in Turkey reveals an inequality. This study aims to examine the variations in interregional tourism development by establishing a comprehensive tourism development index for Turkish cities and subsequently categorizing them based on their distinctive levels of development. To achieve this, a dataset consisting of 18 variables from various public institutions in the year 2017 was compiled. With this data set, Principal Component Analysis was employed to compute the tourism development index for each city, and the Hierarchical Cluster Method was used to categorize cities into distinct development categories. In conclusion, the research underscores the influence of both policy interventions, planning, and the intrinsic characteristics of cities in shaping the spatial disparities in tourism development within Turkey. The implementation of neoliberal policies has notably concentrated capital, investments, and the tourism market in the Mediterranean and Aegean coastal regions, exacerbating spatial inequality in tourism. The implications of this study hold the potential to guide policymakers in narrowing the gaps in interregional tourism development within Turkey, thereby fostering a more equitable and sustainable future

The Development of Museology in Turkey, a Spatial Analysis of Museums and their Contribution to Tourism in Turkey

Cultural attractions include museums, art galleries, festivals, ancient structures, historical and architectural monuments, heritage sites, artistic activities and demonstrations as well as religious trips, language characteristics, local and authentic values, olimpiads, clothing style, traditions, and food culture. As being one of the most important components of cultural tourism, the museums in recent years have experienced a change in their functions, increased the number of tourists and provided economic benefits in their regions by creating alternative destinations for tourism. For this reason the museums, the integral part of tourism, receive increasing investments and new museums are constructed with different functions and the presentation of different products to attract more visitors. This study was conducted to evaluate the development of the museums, to spatially analyze the number of museums, their visitor numbers and incomes by province, and to determine the contribution of museums to tourism in Turkey. The number of museums in Turkey obtained from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, TÜRSAB and TÜİK, the number of artifacts in these museums, the number of visitors to these museums and the subsequent revenues according to the spatial distribution in the provinces have been mapped with the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and the spatial analysis (Standard Deviation Ellipse, Moran’s I, LISA) of the museum indicators has been carried out and the results evaluated. Although museums have long been studied in Turkey with their different characteristics, the studies concerning the use of museums for tourism are quite new. As seen from the number of museums and their visitors, the museums are not being used sufficiently in Turkey. Apart from a very limited number of examples such as Topkapı Palace, Hagia Sophia Museum, Konya Museum, and Anıtkabir, the museums in Turkey are not sufficient in terms of their qualifications and the number of visitors

Turizmde Mekânsal Veri Analizi Tekniklerinin Kullanımı: Türkiye'de İlçelere Göre Konaklama Örneği

Turizmin mekânsal dağılımında zamanla ortaya çıkan değişimin gözlemlenmesi ve etkilerinin doğru yorumlanması, turizm politikaları ve turizm planlaması uygulamalarına daha fazla katkı sağlayacaktır. Bu çalışmada, Türkiye'de ilçelere göre konaklama sayılarının 2000-2013 yılları arası mekânsal dağılımı analiz edilmiştir. Çalışma, 2000-2013 yılları arasında ilçelere göre konaklamanın boyutunu, dağılımını, mekânsal kümelenmesini ve kümelenmenin geçen 14 yıllık süreçteki değişimini ortaya koymak amacıyla hazırlanmıştır. İlçelere göre konaklama sayıları verileri Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı ve TÜİK'den elde edilmiştir ve 2000-2013 yılları arasını kapsamaktadır. Verilerin zamansal ve mekânsal analizi ArcGIS 10.1 programı kullanılarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. 2000, 2005 ve 2013 yıllarında bakanlık belgeli tesislerde konaklayan turist sayılarının ilçelere göre dağılışı haritalandırılmıştır ve ilçelerin turizm gelişim modeli oluşturulmuştur. Ortalama Merkez, Ağırlıklı Ortalama Merkez, Standart Mesafe ve Standart Sapma Elipsi kullanılarak ilçelere göre konaklamanın mekansal dağılımı değerlendirilmiştir, ayrıca Mekânsal Otokorelasyon (Moran's I, LISA, Getis Ord Gi*) yöntemi kullanılarak konaklamanın mekansal kümelenmesi analiz edilmiştir. Monitoring the changes occurring over time in the spatial distribution of tourism and the interpretation of the effects of these changes correctly will contribute to tourism planning practices more efficiently and effectively. In this study, the spatial distribution of the number of accommodations in Turkey was analyzed by districts between 2000 and 2013. The study aimed at analyzing the size, distribution, and spatial clustering of accommodations by districts between 2000 - 2013, and how this clustering changed over the 14-year period. The number of accommodations by districts was obtained from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) for the time period between 2000 and 2013. Temporal and spatial analysis of the data was carried out using ArcGIS 10.1 software. In the study, first, the distribution of the number of tourists accommodated in the facilities certified by the Ministry was mapped by districts for the years 2000, 2005, and 2013, then the tourism development model of the districts was generated. The spatial distribution of the accommodations by districts was assessed by using Average Centers, Weighted Average Centers, Standard Distance, and Standard Deviation Ellipses. Spatial clustering of the accommodations was analyzed with Spatial Autocorrelation (Moran's I, LISA, Getis Ord Gi*)

The Sustainable Usage of Geothermal Sources and Their Importance in Tourism in Afyonkarahisar

Human beings have used geothermal sources since ancient times and are still using. Afyonkarahisar is one of the cities in which thermal sources are increasingly used in tourism. The aim of this study is to present the importance of geothermal sources in terms of tourism and their sustainable usage, and these sources constitute the most attractive part of Afyonkarahisar’ tourism. Investments on tourism in this city as increased recently as well as unplanned urbanization and environmental problems due to the uncontrolled and excessive usage of thermal water. Unproductive and inefficient usage of thermal water jeopardizes the sustainability of sources. Necessary precautions should be taken such as the protection of thermal waters, drilling and distributing it from one single place and preventing illegal drills, since the future of tourism in the city depends on geothermal sources

USING SPATIAL DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES IN TOURISM: A CASE STUDY ON ACCOMMODATION IN TURKEY BY DISTRICTS

Monitoring the changes occurring over time in the spatial distribution of tourism and the interpretation of the effects of these changes correctly will contribute to tourism planning practices more efficiently and effectively. In this study, the spatial distribution of the number of accommodations in Turkey was analyzed by districts between 2000 and 2013. The study aimed at analyzing the size, distribution, and spatial clustering of accommodations by districts between 2000 – 2013, and how this clustering changed over the 14-year period. The number of accommodations by districts was obtained from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) for the time period between 2000 and 2013. Temporal and spatial analysis of the data was carried out using ArcGIS 10.1 software. In the study, first, the distribution of the number of tourists accommodated in the facilities certified by the Ministry was mapped by districts for the years 2000, 2005, and 2013, then the tourism development model of the districts was generated. The spatial distribution of the accommodations by districts was assessed by using Average Centers, Weighted Average Centers, Standard Distance, and Standard Deviation Ellipses. Spatial clustering of the accommodations was analyzed with Spatial Autocorrelation (Moran’s I, LISA, Getis Ord Gi*)

TOURISM GEOGRAPHY RESEARCHES IN TURKEY: A CONTENT ANALYSIS FOR GRADUATE THESES

The economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts of tourism are increasing day by day which in parallel increases the interest of geography which examines tourism matters in terms of venues, spatial change, space-human relations with its own principles. The geography discipline makes an important contribution to tourism studies through different theories, methods, techniques and approaches. As with other disciplines, one of the most important academic outcomes of tourism geography is graduate theses. The first thesis on tourism in the world has been made by geographers and especially Anglo-American geographers have pioneering work in this field. Nowadays, the academic contributions of geographers to tourism are continuing in many countries of the world. The main objective of the study is to analyze the current situation of graduate thesis written in the field of tourism geography in Turkey and evaluate these academic theses which are one of the indicators of tourism geography and tourism sub-discipline in terms of subject, qualification, paradigm, literature and method. Therefore 111 graduate theses on tourism prepared by geographers until December 2015 have been determined and 103 of them have been accessed. Graduate theses have been analyzed according to years, universities, page numbers, bibliography cases, data analysis methods and contents according to processed subjects and the data were interpreted according to the findings in the study. An examination of the theses revealed that while pioneering and qualitative studies in tourism geography in Turkey were available, they were few in number and most of them were methodologically and theoretically inadequate in terms of scientific practices

Illegal Mining as Threat to Sustainable Development in Ghana: A Political Ecology Approach

Within the past few decades, Ghana’s mining sector specifically the small scale mining subsector has been marred by controversies mainly due to its threat to sustainable development. This paper provides some insights into the inextricable linkage between sustainable development and illegal gold mining popularly referred to as “galamsey” and examines the effectiveness of political response and processes at the local and national level. While acknowledging the incommensurable role of the mining sector in poverty reduction through employment generation, the adverse impact on the environmental, economic and social fabric of society cannot be ignored. Notwithstanding this hard evidence at hand, successive governments are handicapped to reverse the devastating effects partly due to the complicated and multifaceted nature of the small scale mining sub-sector. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in three illegal mining communities comprised 12 illegal miners and officials task to monitor mining activities. We also extensively utilized official government reports and relevant academic literature to draw attention to the multiplicity and diversity of illegal mining. By examining livelihood strategies and reviewing successive government policies on mining and sustainability, we discovered gaps in the area of policy implementation and systemic marginalization of majority of communities where illegal mining occurs. In this paper, we advocate for a broader multidimensional and sectoral collaboration as a fundamental approach to confront illegal small scale mining activities