Critical Interrogation on Tourism Conservation Policies of Heritage Sites in Northern Cyprus

Conservation of cultural heritage sites has been accepted globally as the improvement and protection of human resources against physical decay but implementation of conservation policies has been a great challenge especially in emerging economies of islands (Briguglio, L. & Briguglio M. 1996). The reason for this is the lackadaisical attitude of the governments towards conservation, hiding under the guise that it is too expensive to conserve cultural sites. This has led to lack of policies, strategies, institutions, agencies in order to map out plan for implementing conservation. The purpose of this study is to research whether cultural heritage contributes as a product to the growth of tourism in Northern Cyprus and also whether there are policies on conservation of heritage sites, implementation pattern and monitoring. The study focused on the activities of the government, planners of tourism, academics, archaeologists, architects and on their understanding of heritage sites, the relationship to tourism growth and the extent of conservation and the contributions of institutions in safe guarding heritage sites from human and natural degradation. In order to develop a detail understanding of the issue of conservation policies in North Cyprus, a qualitative approach was adopted. Data was collected using semi structured interviews with ten people who were considered to be knowledgeable on this issue. The research revealed that regardless of the fact that the government, tourism marketers and other stakeholders have the idea of what conservation of heritage resources are, the awareness is lacking in the various communities for proper implementation. The results also showed that with their knowledge on the concept of conservation of heritage sites, it has not been put into foreseeable actions which will aid in the protection and preservation of heritage sites from the activities of tourism. The research concluded that this was as a result of lack of political will, institutions and in cooperation of academics, archaeologists, and other professionals in the decision making of the tourism growth and development in Northern Cyprus. Keywords: tourism, planning, sustainability, archaeology, heritage sites, conservation, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)