Mcdonaldization of tourism in Turkey: An analysis of the package tours as a tourism product

There is an increasing focus on the "Mc Donaldization" presented by George Ritzer as the concept was little known in the 90s when his book "The Mc Donaldization of the Society" was first published, but later the concept in 2000s attracted much attention. Perhaps, "Mc Donaldization" is meeting the need of defining many things which enters our lives in the modern times quickly and later on we take them out without noticing. "Mc Donaldization" concept is also affected from the ideas of Weber and from the concept - as he names - the iron cages of the rationality. Rational systems covers all aspects of the modern man's daily life ending an irrational rationality and challenging the uncertainity concept of the traditional society. Ritzer, explains the social life within the framework of four principles: productivity, accountability, forecastability and inspection and later by adding a fifth one, that is, rationality of irrationality, based on Weber's rationality concept. He argues that these four principles are the main determinants of all social interactions from bussiness life to family life, from consumption and to education. In this study, that the Mc Donaldization process shapes the leisure time as well as touristic activities of the individuals is argued within the framework of the above given principles. Specifically, one can see clearly that in the package tours as a McDonaldization version of tourism, the creativity, freedom and uniqueness of the individuals are taken for granted. Therefore, in this study, it is aimed to analyze package tours, as being important tourism product, in Turkey, with reference to the framework of Ritzer's four principles.