The effect of the perceptions and attitudes of the local people towards the cultural heritage values on the support given to the development of tourism: Case of Erzincan Kemaliye

Tourism has more than one element of attraction. Protection of cultural heritage values, which have an important place in these elements; It is important for its use and sustainability for tourism purposes. The contribution of the local people in the protection of cultural heritage values cannot be ignored, because the local people are those who directly use cultural heritage values, survive them, transfer them from generation to generation. Local people should be aware that tourism has positive effects as well as negative effects such as pollution and destruction. It has to act with this awareness. In this study, the research region is Kemaliye district of Erzincan. The district has the richness of concrete and abstract cultural heritage values and the local people who are aware of this wealth. However, it can be said that the tourism potential of the district threatens the sustainability of cultural heritage values. In the research, it was tried to determine what the attitudes of the local people living in Kemaliye on the promotion of cultural heritage values of the region to tourism. The universe of the study is local people 18 years and older who live in Kemaliye,; the sample is determined as local people 18 years and older who reside in the district center. A survey was carried out using easy sampling technique on 10-20 August 2023. 306 People participated in the study and the data set in the SPSS program was prepared for analysis. Frequency distribution of data, endpoints were found, loss data control, slingshot analysis were performed. Afterwards, reliability, validity analysis were performed and factor analysis was applied and 8 dimensions were found. Correlation, regression analyses were performed to test hypotheses. According to the results of the correlation analysis, there is a significant relationship between the attitudes and attitudes of the local people towards cultural heritage values and their support for the development of tourism; there is a meaningless relationship between the perception and attitudes of the local people towards the values of cultural heritage and the protection of cultural heritage values; it was determined that there was a significant relationship between the perception and attitudes of the local people towards the values of cultural heritage and the promotion of cultural heritage values. As a result of the regression analysis, the perception and attitude to the values of the local people and cultural heritage have a meaningful effect on the support given to the development of tourism and the promotion of cultural heritage values, but on the protection of cultural heritage values it has been found to have a meaningless effect.