The perception and support of the local people for the development of tourism: The case of Afyonkarahisar

Tourism, has been a developing sector, getting more important day by day. The improvement of tourism is a factor directly and positively effecting the economic development of destinations. The development of tourism sector, carrying improvements in socio-cultural and environmental dimensions primarily effect the people living at the location. Generally, these effects are positive, but sometimes there may be some negative effects occuring. To capture a successful and sustainable acceleration of tourism, the related perceptions of the people living at the location should be defined, as they are the most affected partners. The positive or negative perceptions of the local people can be evaluated as the indicator of their support for the improvement of the sector. In this context, the results of this study would be useful for minimalizing the negative perceptions of the local people to capture an increase in the support of local people for the development of tourism. For this context, the aim of this study is to define the direction of perceptions and support of local people for tourism development in Afyonkarahisar. For this aim, a survey was performed among 810 attendants and data was collected in the period between February and April 2016 and analysed finally. For the analysis of descriptive data, percentage – frequency, arithmetic mean and standard deviation values were calculated; for the measurement of relationships, correlation and regression analysis were performed; for the definition of the differences between the variables t-tests and Anova were applied. In conclusion, positive perceptions and support of the local people in Afyonkarahisar for the development of tourism were achieved. Additionally, the result as "the positive perceptions of the attendants effect their support for the tourism development in a positive way" was achieved. Keywords: Local People, Tourism Development, Perception, Support, Afyonkarahisar.