Position of tourism in the Turkish economy and the estimation of tourism demand to Turkey

During the second half of the twentieth century, tourism has became one of the largest and most rapidly growing sectors in the world. Tourism, like many other industries, is often used as a national or regional development tool. Tourism industry is widely recognized for the important role which can play in generating income, employment and tax revenues, in alleviating balance of payments constrains and in contributing to regional and national economic development. Especially during the 1980's Turkey, has become a popüler tourist attraction for tourists from all over the world. Tourism has become a major source of foreign exchange for Turkey. Especially during the 1980!s, Turkey's receipts from international tourism exporting countries. After 1980's tourism played an important role in generating income, new employment opportunities and in alleviating balance of payments constrains in Turkish economy. Tourism is recognized as a key sector in the economic development strategy of Turkey. Having a knowledge about the tourism demand of countries is very important for the policy makers to determine the tourism investment. The demand for tourism and the choice of tourist destinations may be susceptible to large fluctiations for a number of reasons, including variations in income, inflation and exchange rates, and unexpected events such as major political changes. Reliable estimates of elasticities of tourism demand are necessary for the formulation of efficient tourism policies. In this study, tourism demand were estimated from 11 countries to Turkey during 1970-1 994' s. As a result, per capita income, exchange rates, consumer price index, number of bed and unexpected events (war, political changes) have effected tourism demand to Turkey.