Determining the impact of local people's perception of tourism on tourism support: Example of the TR21 Region

In order for tourism to develop in a region, first of all, the feelings, thoughts and opinions of the local people of the region, which are an important tourism stakeholder, should be investigated and analyzed. In order to able to talk about a healthy and correct tourism environment, it is extremely important to learn the approach of the local people towards the concept of tourism and to measure their perceptions towards tourism. Tourism activities without the support of local people are not expected to be sustainable. The purpose of this study is to determine the tourism perception of the local people living within the borders of the TR21 Region and to reveal whether this perception has an effect on the support given to tourism. It is aimed to collect and analyze data in the region called TR21 Region by making use of quantitative research methods and conducting surveys in line with the determined purpose. The research tests whether the perception of tourism, which is formed with the economic, cultural, social, environmental and total effects of tourism, has an effect on the support given to tourism. Another aim and goal of the study is to contribute to the literature on tourism perception and tourism support, to determine the conditions under which the local people of the TR21 Region support tourism and to reveal what plays a role in the formation of these conditions. As a result of the study, it is expected to contribute to the development of tourism in the cities in the region and to benefit the academic literature. The research was applied to local people in the TR21 Region (Tekirdağ, Edirne and Kırklareli). The field and survey study of the research was carried out in October-December 2020 with 450 participants. Convenience sampling method was preferred as the sampling method. For the research, 450 questionnaires were collected from the local people of TR21 Region and 450 data obtained were analyzed. Analysis of the research data was made using the SPSS (Static Packages for the Social Sciences) 20.0 analysis program. Apart from the frequency and percentage distribution statistics of demographic features in the study, reliability and validity analysis (Reliability and Validity Analysis), Test of Normality, explanatory factor analysis (EFA), simple correlation analysis (Pearson Correlation Analysis), simple linear regression analysis , Independent Sample t-Test, one-way analysis of variance (One Way ANOVA) to compare two and above categorical variables, and Tukey HSD (Post-Hoc Analysis) second-level test to detect groups with significant relationships between them has been made. According to the results of the research, there were significant differences in terms of demographic characteristics of the local people in the hypothesis tests on both tourism perception and tourism support. According to the findings of the study, it was determined that the tourism perception of the local people of the TR21 Region has a positive and weak significant effect on tourism support. At the end of the study, it was seen that the tourism perception variable in the TR21 Region has a significant effect on the tourism support variable. In addition, according to the research findings, it has been revealed that the factors that most affect the tourism perception of the local people of TR21 Region are economic and cultural effects. Keywords: Tourism Perception, Tourism Support, TR21 Region, Local People, Tourism