Festivals within the context of event tourism: Side World Musics, Culture and Art Festival

In today's increasing global competitive environment, tourism activities have started to come to the fore with the added value effects they create. Regional activities carried out within the scope of event tourism are among the remarkable tourism-based applications. Although it is thought that they have a positive impact on the region, especially in economic terms, other effects of event tourism practices such as festivals on the region should also be investigated and evaluated. Especially meeting with people from different cultures in specific periods, interaction of cultures makes festivals create positive marks on cultural structures of the region where the festivals are arranged too. When all these effects are considered, with the economical, social and cultural consequences the importance of creating a sustainable structure for festivals reveals. Side, where the research was carried out, is a candidate to be one of the important regions of our country in terms of event tourism with its historical texture and its socio-cultural environment that brings together different cultures. Within the scope of this thesis study, the effects of Side World Music Culture and Art Festival, which has been a remarkable event tourism practice in recent years, has been evaluated. Within the scope of the research, in-depth interviews were conducted with different stakeholders such as public institution employees in the region, local tradesmen and local people. The effects of Side World Music Culture and Art Festival on the region, which is also the subject of the thesis, were evaluated by subjecting the data obtained as a result of the interviews with 12 people selected from among local stakeholders to content analysis. According to the results of the research, it was seen that the festival had a positive effect on the region in general. The festival has been found to be beneficial especially in terms of increasing the economic prosperity of the region and cultural development. Various results have been obtained regarding the positive aspects of the festival as well as the aspects that need improvement. It is seen that there are important expectations, such as the continuation of the processes related to the festival with a more participatory approach towards the people of the region and the revision of the festival's starting date.