Critiques of national tourism policies in case of Antalya

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of tourism developments shaped by national policies and legal regulations in the transformation processes of natural areas.The research dwells into such conceptual discussions that have been influential upon tourism policies as well as the experiences of outstanding mass tourism destinations such as Spain and Greece. Following the determination of the fundamentals in regulations and the national policies shaping the sector of tourism in Turkey, the spatial reflections of mentioned policies have been discussed within the context of Antalya in general and Belek Tourism Center in particular.Conducted researches and analyses concluded that mass tourism investments which tend to create spatial polarizations have resulted in excessive concentration of urban developments in coastal areas by interventions of the central government. It is found out that such legal instruments as incentives and land allocation practices as much as the structural characteristics of mass tourism have both been determining on the mentioned processes of polarization. It is concluded that common forestry lands determine the location of tourism development areas and the act tourism planning remains insufficient to protect the neighbouring agricultural lands of high quality.