Determining the relationship between local tourists' perceptions of ecotourism and social media attitudes: The case of Şirnak

This study aims to examine the relationship between local tourist's views on ecotourism and their social media attitudes.While the population of the study consists of local tourists visiting Şırnak province, the sample consists of 470 individuals, 222 (47.20%) female and 248 (52.80%) male, selected by convenience sampling method from the specified population.Personal information form, ecotourism impact perception scale and social media attitudes scale were used to obtain the data.The normality of the obtained data was tested, independent groups t-test was used for pairwise comparisons, one way-ANOVA was used for multiple comparisons and Pearson correlation test was used to determine the relationship.The significance level of (P<0.5) was taken into consideration in the statistical analysis and interpretation of the data.As a result of the analyzes, while there is no change in terms of gender, occupation and monthly income in terms of participants' perception of the effects of ecotourism, there is no change in terms of age in the dimension of ecotourism's contribution to socio-cultural development, in terms of education level in the dimensions of ecotourism's contribution to economic development and ecotourism scale total, Statistical significance was found in the dimension of ecotourism's contribution to economic development in terms of marital status, in all dimensions in terms of whether or not to use social media tools for touristic activities, and in the dimensions of ecotourism's contribution to economic development, ecotourism's contribution to socio-cultural development and ecotourism total in terms of daily social media usage time.When evaluated in terms of social media attitudes; While there is no change in terms of gender, marital status, occupation and marital status of local people, there is no change in terms of age in the dimensions of the impact of social media on purchasing decisions, evaluation of social media as an information source-medium, level of utilization of social media, sharing experiences on social media and social media total scale, Statistical significance was found in the dimensions of evaluation of social media as an information source-tool, level of utilization of social media and social media total scale in terms of education level, in all dimensions in terms of using/not using social media tools for touristic activities and in all dimensions in terms of daily social media usage time.It was determined that there were positive and moderately significant relationships between local tourists' perception of ecotourism impacts and social media attitudes scale totals and all sub-dimensions.As a result, it is thought that ecotourism is an important factor in terms of social media and social media has an important role in promoting ecotourism areas.