Congress and exhibation tourizm development in the world and in Turkey in terms of Antalya province SWOT analysis

Especially congress and fair tourism has been becoming an important option of tourism all over the World as in Turkey. Tourism has been in a rapid growth during the last decades, and the boost in convention & fair organizations thought to be one of the reasons of this growth of tourism industry. This relation between tourism and conventions makes the importance of the researches about the conventions and fairs as a segment of tourism industry. The congress tourism in a region does not show an instantaneous growth. Large amount of investment is required for a city to become an atractive center of congress tourism. Fairs, being as an important opportunities for promotion and marketing of tourism values, are sales platforms that band together product providers within tourism market with potential buyer firms and consumers. Moreover, fairs are eager to attract big amount of people with both business and touristic aims to the host country and cities. The aim of this thesis is to determine the futures analysis (opportunities, advantages, threats, weaknesses) of congress and fair tourism for Antalya province and to obtain a useful result from the research carried out by the studies conducted in this field. This study consists of three main sections. The first and second part of the definition of congress and fair tourism, information about the development in the world and in Turkey, and research on this topic is given. In the last section, findings and analysis related to the research are interpreted. The research was carried out in 5 star hotels and congress and fair centers in Antalya. In this study, it was tried to determine the adequacy of Antalya province to congress tourism in terms of quality and quantity. In this research, questionnaire technique was used as data collection methods. In the evaluation of the data obtained from the research, percentage and frequency distribution and cross-table analysis were used. Evaluations were interpreted by using SPSS for Windows 11.5 package program. As a result of the research, it was observed that the infrastructure and superstructure facilities and facilities of Antalya province are sufficient for congress and fair tourism. Advantages of Antalya province in the development of congress and fair tourism; quality and diversity, accessibility, infrastructure and superstructure, strong destination image, while the weakness of the winter accessibility and seasonality, marketing problems, quality staff were found to be incapacity. As threats; Inadequate and poor quality service, diplomatic relations and global competition environment stand out as opportunities; easier accessibility compared to competing destinations, employment opportunities and the rise of Antalya `s brand name has come to the fore.