The impact of tourism on cross-cultural relations: The case of Cesme-Chios Island

Nowadays, tourism is in need of support by local communities more than ever. This situation attract attention of many scholars worldwide. For this reason researchers have been focused on effects of tourism on local communities for last three decades. In this study it is aimed to investigate impacts of tourism on cross- cultural relations by the case of Çeşme and Chios Island. There is a lot of tourism traffic between Turkey and Greece, esspecially by the west coast of Turkey and Greek Islands. Çeşme and Chios Island is one of the busiest gateway for those visitors. In this study, qualitative research method is applied. Observations and interview techniques are used for data collection. Data is collected through the interviews of 22 Greek residents of Chios Island and 17 Turkish residents of Çeşme. The observations are done in various places in 2 countries. Observations in Greece are done in Chios Island and its touristical villages "Pyrgi", "Mesta", "Armolia", "Vrontados", "Karfas" and in Turkey observations are done in Çeşme and its touristic neighborhood Alaçatı. According to the findings, there are some negative and positive impacts of tourism on cross- cultural relations between Çeşme and Chios Island. These impacts are mostly positive on cross cultural relations. People of Çeşme and Chios Island are looking positively to each other and with tourism, relations are getting better and stronger. Keywords: Tourism, Cross-Cultural Relations, Çeşme, Chios Island.