The socio-cultural impacts of tourism: A case study of Antalya/Muratpaşa district

Today, tourism is one of the largest developing sectors. Tourism industry has evolved to a leading economic factor for many countries and it has a general impact on the destination societies and cultures. Social structures, the culture and traditions can be influenced, changed or even completely substituted due to tourism. The socio-cultural impacts of tourism refer to positive and negative effects or impacts of tourism on culture, traditions, customs and social lifestyle of the host community. The socio-cultural impacts of tourism are not the same across the world. Various factors that differ from location to location may influence the type of impact and also whether the impacts are negative or positive. When host and visitors have similar levels of socio-economic development, socio-cultural differences tend to be less pronounced and tourism impacts upon society and culture are reduced.The purpose of this thesis is to present the findings of the research conducted using a five point Likert scale and participant observation as means for investigating host perceptions of socio-cultural impacts of tourism in Antalya/Muratpaşa district.This sudy includes four parts. In the first part, the adminsitrative stucture of Antalya, demographic development, population density and distribution, social characteristics and urban infrastructure are included. The second part deals with the development of tourism in Antalya. The third part reveals the socio-cultural impacts of tourism. In the fourth part of the study the socio-cultural impacts of tourism in Antalya/Muratpaşa district are analysed.A systematic analysis of tourism impact factors and the impact mechanisms may help developers to avoid the most negative impacts of tourism development and to introduce appropriate policies and actions to be introduced.