the economic dimension of tourism and the use of cultural and faith tourism as an economic factor in the example of Diyarbakır

Nowadays tourism is seen as one of the most important sources of economic expansion and development in many countries. With its contributions to foreign payment balance, employment, income level, regional development etc., tourism has an important place within the overall economy of countries. For this reason; nearly all countries are trying to increase the portion that they are obtaining from the global tourism revenue. For example, they are developing different programs to increase tourism activities of the country, to make longer the duration of tourists in their country, to spread tourism activities to all the year and to develop alternative tourism types. For our country, the most important alternatives are cultural tourism and faith tourism.This thesis ?the economic dimension of tourism and the use of cultural and faith tourism as an economic factor in the example of diyarbakır? consists of three basic chapters.In the first chapter, the economic dimension of tourism is explained. After an introduction about the real and monetary effects of tourism, the existing situation of tourism in our country is tried to be explained with numerical data.In the second chapter, the concepts of cultural tourism and faith tourism are examined and their characteristics are emphasized. Studies made in Turkey about cultural and faith tourism are cited in brief.The third chapter is about the cultural tourism and faith tourism sources and values of Diyarbakır. In this chapter, after introducing the works of arts in the city center, which are related with cultural tourism and faith tourism, it is tried to make an assessment about the economical impact of these values to the city.In the conclusion, it is aimed to determine the problems and develop suggestions about these problems to improve the tourism potential of the city.Key words; tourism economy, culture tourism, faith tourism and Diyarbakır.