A research on the conservation and sustainability of cultural heritage: The case of Tirilye (Mudanya)

Tirilye, located in the Mudanya district of Bursa province, is an important tourism destination today. Many civilizations have ruled from past tou present in Tirilye, whose settlement date goes back to anciment times. There are 3 monasteries, 7 churches, 3 holy springs and an Orthodox Greek cemetery in Tirilye. In addition, there are examples of 150-200 years old civil architecture, the Stone School building in 1909 and a 16th century bath. Due to these features, it was declared a "Site to be Protected" by the High Council of Real Estate Antiquities and Monuments on 10.05.1980. In this study, which deals with the protection of cultural heritage and tourism activites in Tirilye witnin the scope of sustainability, the opinions of tourism stakeholders (local people, tourism operator, visitors) were consulted. In sustainable tourism, determination of the perceptions and attitudes of tourism stakeholders is important in terms of tourism success, recognition of the destination and attracting visitors to the area. In the first step of the research, a literature review has been conducted on subjects such as cultural heritage, conservation of heritage, sustainability, and sustaniable touris, which constitute the basic lines of the study, Afterwards, field work has been carried out in the area and intangible cultural heritage values determined. A mixed method approach was used in the study. Witnin the scope of the quantitave research, 108 people from the local community have been surveyed and data obtained has analyzed with the IBM SPSS Statistics 21 program. As part of the quanlitative research, semi-structured interviews were transcribed in the study were collected in April-May. According to the results obtained from the study, Tirilye welcomes thousands of visitors every year due to its geographical location, being close to other big cities, Especially on weekends, the number of visitors increases compared to other days. Tourism activites in the area have been perceived positively by local people and operators. This shows that tourism reflects on local people and operators and is sustainable. The increase in traffic, product and servise prices, and environmental pollution are among the negative effects of tourism on the field.