Effects of terrorism on Turkish tourism: Examples of Mardin and Diyarbakır

The main purpose of this study is to examine what extent the terrorist activities affected the Turkish tourism industry. Terrorism; threatens the territorial integrity of the countries or the safety of citizens globally. For the less developed or developing countries, the tourism industry is seen as the key to rapid development. The tourism industry in Turkey is of great importance in terms of economic development. The supporters of the terrorist organizations who do not want underdeveloped or developing countries to reach economic prosperity, support the development and growth of the terrorist organizations with their economic assistance. Terrorist acts taking place in Turkey, seriously affect the tourism industry. In the study, the terrorist attacks taking place in Turkey between 2015 and 2017 and the number of tourists in the same years arriving in Turkey was conducted on the basis of time-series analysis. In addition,15 middle and upper level managers of hotel business located in Diyarbakır and Mardin are included to the scope of the study. Qualitative research method was used in the research and literature review was done. The data of the study was obtained by interviews with middle and upper level managers of three star and above hotel enterprises in Mardin and Diyarbakır. The data obtained were analyzed qualitatively. As a result of the research; it is understood that terrorist acts negatively affects world tourism, Turkish tourism and tourism of Southeastern Anatolia economically,socially and the diversity of tourism. Key Words: Terrorism, Tourism, Turkey, Guneydogu Anadolu Bolgesi, Mardin, Diyarbakir.