Local people's perception and support for rural tourism activities

The overall impact of tourism consists of four different factors: economic, social, environmental and cultural. The most affected by the positive or negative effects of these factors are the local people living in the touristic area. The direction (negative/positive) and level of perception of the impact of tourism by the local people also affect the support they give to tourism. In order to realize the expected benefits from rural tourism, it is very important to get the support of the local people, which is one of the most important conditions of rural tourism. In this research, 391 valid survey data were collected from the local people residing in Ortaca in order to determine the perception and support of the local people towards tourism. For the research, first of all, a literature study on the subject was made. Nghiêm-Phú (2016) and Stylidis et al. (2014) used the scale. The data obtained were included in the SPSS statistical program and evaluated through the descriptive statistical analyzes "Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Reliability Analysis, Correlation and Regression Analysis, T-test Analysis and One-Way Anova Analysis". It has been determined that the benefits of the study in terms of tourism are both scientifically beneficial and provide important information for tourism entrepreneurs, local and national decision makers, academics who want to work in this field, and finally the local people who are important stakeholders in tourism. According to the findings obtained in the research; It has been understood that the opinions of the local people on the economic, socio-cultural and support dimension of tourism activities are positive, but they are negative for the environmental dimension. Based on this, it has been determined that the local people have concerns that the environmental structure will deteriorate. In addition, as a result of the analyzes made, it was determined that there were significant differences between some demographic characteristics of the local people and the dimensions of perception and support. As a result of the data obtained from the research, it has been determined that although the local people living in the region do not have sufficient knowledge about rural tourism, they give high value to the tourism industry and tourists and support various activities in the region.