Educational Tourism and its Significance on Social and Cultural Changes within Host Community

Indubitably, Social, political and cultural characteristics of a destination can be impacted by tourism development. Tourism has the potential to project positive or negative socio-cultural, socio-economic and political outcomes. Such potential is guaranteed based on how tourism cultivates and fosters. Since trend of internationalization is on the rise, heterogeneous institutions have been endeavoring to attract students who their language of spoken is beyond their local borders. In fact, students from all different spectrums have been encouraged to travel overseas, under diverse educational models to fulfill their education ambition. Educational tourism instigates people from diverse backgrounds [social and cultural] into that local destination; a great economic opportunity can arise due to significant potential of students’ spending power. Such reality can be a significant boost to evolve the economic situation of locals on the ground. While, it might be a disaster for preservation of local culture and their rustic way of social life. North Cyprus, a small island located in Mediterranean region has enjoyed significant reputation due to growing numbers of its universities; a privilege increasingly recognized by international students. The economic prosperity of the island has heavily depended on its educational tourism; an easy source of income for its inhabitants. This study explores the impact of internationalization of education known as educational tourism on the cultural and social facets of local lives, here in Famagusta, a small city in Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. There is a raft of unanswered questions in regard to impact of educational tourism on the host community, therefore, this study aims to shed a light on the impact of educational tourism on cultural and societal way of locals’ lives, engaging locals’ perspectives. iv Hopefully, this study can shed a light on some issues; create a clear picture on trans national transformation and how it can be beneficial for locals not just from economic point of view, also from social, cultural and physical point of view as well. Keywords: Educational tourism, internationalizations, locals, foreign students, North Cyprus, trans-national transformation.