Analysis of foreign trade relations between center and perphery countries with respect to tourism and Turkey

In this thesis foreign trade relations between the First World countries which are known as the Center and the Third World countries which are known as the Periphery have been investigated with respect to international tourism and Turkey. It has been tried to shown that whether the empirical data from the international tourism and Turkey?s tourism sector support the hypothesis of P-S or not. Within the framework of the thesis it has been shown that while the tour operators of the Center are buying hotel room with low prices which is supplied by the accommodation enterprises of the Periphery in the process of constructing a package tour, and at the end, economic value is transferred from the Periphery to the Center.As conforming the P-S the thesis, the tour operators of the Center (Germany and the UK) which have oligopoly power in the market are in a superior position from which the hoteliers in Greece and Turkey are forced to work with slim profit margins. This conclusion comes from two field studies carried out in Greece, first in Crete (2003) the second is in Corfu (2004). Additionally two field studies (2000 and 2003-2004) carried out in Turkey confirm that the hoteliers located at the western coastlines of Turkey complaint about the weak position that they have against the foreign tour operators. Furthermore in Turkey the managers of many tourism enterprises declares in various meeting and congress hold since 1995 that how they are depended against the foreign tour operators and they can not earn money from packaged tours.Since 1989 it has been observed that there is instability and fluctuations in the prices of room sold in the process of preparing packaged tours in Turkey. Furthermore between 1995 and 2007 the study has found out that there is a decreasing trend of profit rate of tourism enterprises in Turkey. Additionally since 1992 there is also decreasing trend in wages and salaries in accommodation enterprises in Turkey. It has been shown in the study that value added generated in hotels in Turkey is 15 percent less than the similar enterprises in the 27 European Union countries in 2004. Similarly the wages and salaries in accommodation, food and beverage enterprises in the 27 EU countries is 11 percent higher than the corresponding enterprises in Turkey. In conclusion the tourism enterprises in the Center generate not only more value added, but also the Center counties are in better position to capture the value generated in the Periphery countries in tourism.Key words; tourism, development, Prebisch and Singer, foreign trade, Turkey, center and periphery