An analysis of the change of tourism movement in South Aegean Region within the historical course from the viewpoint/perspective of relational sociology (Changing roles and actors in tourism)

South Aegean Region has been home to various civilizations since the ancient times. The means of military transportation became available for civil use after the end of the World War II. This also brought along the freedom of transportation across the globe. Within this context, the South Aegean Region has become one of the most significant tourist attractions since the 1960s because of its both historical, cultural and natural beauties. The local people, who had been living as a closed community until the 1960s, began to communicate with people from various countries and cultures after the blast of tourism. This caused massive cultural and social changes in this region. The fact that Turkey adopted outward-oriented economic policies with the decisions of 24th January 1980, and the factors that had an impact on global growth of tourism geared up the tourism movement in the South Aegean Region. The purpose of this study within this context is to reveal the place and importance of the tourism actors who have played significant roles in regional tourism movements within the historical course. Within this framework, the relational sociology perspective has been adopted when analyzing the development of tourism in the region. Bourdieu's "field theory" constitutes the theoretical base of this study. In the study, the qualitative research method was used. The data source of this study is the second and the third volumes of The Oral History Project on Tourism in Turkey (Türkiye Turizmi Sözlü Tarih Araştırması) books that were published in total of 10 volumes at the end of the Tourism History Project of Turkey This study has revealed that the local people of the South Aegean Region, the investors, and the tourists have respectively become the main actors of tourism development within the process. As the mass tourism movements began to dominate the region's tourism dynamics, the continuum of relations gave their place to temporality of relations. One of the most significant results of this study is the alienation of local communities to their homeland.