Tourism's role and importance in regional development; Siirt case

Today, realization of national or regional development is indispensable for the economies of the country. In order to achieve regional development, eliminating or minimizing imbalances between regions is of great importance for our country, as it is for all countries. One of the biggest obstacles in front of development in Turkey, is the existence of regional imbalances. Tourism stands out as an important policy tool in removing the imbalances between regions for Turkey which has rich geography in this respect. In this study, assessments have been made with respect to the importance of tourism and its role in regional development in Turkey, tourism promotion in the five-year development plan, tourism potential of the province of Siirt and tourism diversity in province of Siirt. The findings of the field study once again reveal the importance of the province of Siirt in terms of tourism diversity. On the other hand, it is considered that the tourism sector in the region will be revived by eliminating the infrastructure problems in the city as well as the sectoral problems that have a share in the fact that the tourism sector does not reflect the potential of the tourism sector in Siirt. The main purpose of this study is to provide tourism policy recommendations that can be used in the development of Siirt province.