Tourism development and destination competitiveness from the perspective of tourism stakeholders: The case of Antalya

vııı SUMMARY If tourism were to contribute to a social, economic, and environmental development; tourism attractions and resources would have to be competitive in both national and international dimensions. Additionally, if a tourism destination possesses more competitive features than its rivals, more qualified tourism products must be produced in that destination, and these products must be presented into more diverse target markets. Accordingly, more benefits and advantages must be provided to tourists and visitors in terms of travel experiences. Moreover, tourism suppliers and the ones participating in tourism development process are to be benefited from the increasing competitiveness of the destination. The support of tourism stakeholders is essential for development, successful functioning and long-term sustainability. If tourism stakeholders benefited from the tourism impacts, they express positive environmental attitudes, show a high attachment to their community, prefer tourism development and support destination competitive strategies. In a destination region, such kind of support increases the possibility of successful tourism and aids to the destination competitiveness improvement. Consequently, tourism destination communities gain the social and economic benefits from the increasing tourism destination competitiveness. If tourism destination attractions were developed and supported relevantly, tourists and visitors would take more advantages from their travel experiences. Although studies were conducted from various perspectives about the participation of destination communities to the tourism planning and the perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of the communities; the dynamic and complex nature of the factors influencing destination communities, especially the planning preferences and the competitive strategies of tourism stakeholders were not thoroughly handled. The opinions and attitudes of tourism stakeholders about tourism are of great importance in the concept of successful tourism management and development. Particularly, in a highly competitive destination market, identification of this support is required vitally in order to create a pertinent combination of tourism attractions and resources and an effective series of development strategies. That's why, that identification would probably become a starting point for the plans and policies of the future.