Research Information System
ULUSLARARASI BATI ASYA TURİZM ARAŞTIRMALARI KONGRESİ, Van, Turkey, 28 September - 01 October 2017, vol.1, no.1, pp.186-187
The tourism industry is one of the most promising sectors that are currently attempting to increase its share in the export budget of both the developing countries and the developed ones owing this success from new technologies in transportation and communication, and the increasing travel demand of people worldwide. In this context, most of the natural coastal areas with sun-sea and sand have transformed into highly frequented coastal tourism destinations. This transformation has also led to the restructuring of local economies simultaneously. Large scaled tourism firms and local tourism entrepreneurs are the two main suppliers and shareholders of the tourism economy since they upsurge each other in different ways by feed backing and creating new services, which certainly sell in a well-organized market. Although large scaled touristic firms hold the biggest share in touristic earnings of countries, it has been started to be discussed that local tourism entrepreneurships have also been very effective in stimulating growth of tourism industry as a whole. Thesis of this study is that, the local and geographic characteristics of touristic destinations and local entrepreneurships are mutually effective in unique and irreplaceable improvement of tourism industries when compared to large scaled tourism firms and tourism chains. The study will first focus on the main differences between "tourism entrepreneurship" and "tourism-based local entrepreneurship" concepts. Tourism entrepreneurship will be under discussion in relation to globalization and tourism industry dynamics; while tourism based local entrepreneurship will be explained through uniqueness and creativeness concerns. Second, the interaction between economic actors, local know-how creation, and local learning processes will be questioned. Since the horizontal and vertical relationships among the firms with different sizes and origins are extremely essential to sustainability of the tourism industry, face-to-face relations and network structures will be surveyed due to their remarkable importance. Furthermore, the research will underline the impact of “unique geographic conditions” for emerging local entrepreneurships in the tourism sector. In this context, Goreme as one of the developed and a well-known domestic and international touristic destination of the Nevsehir province, which is located at central Anatolia-Turkey, has been selected as the case study area. In the scope of the study, qualitative interviews will be conducted with local tourism entrepreneurs, large scaled firms and touristic hotel chain representatives that operate in Goreme-Nevsehir. Consequently, the relations between the tourism-based local entrepreneurship and the original local dynamics that contribute to the progressive transformation of tourism sectors will be under evaluation. A qualifying statement of the main factors behind the unique and innovative emergence of local tourism entrepreneurships, and their associations to large scaled tourism firms and sub-sectors besides the tourism authorities at different levels will mark the study results. The findings possibly suggest implications for policy-makers and representatives of the tourism sector. Outcomes may also be helpful in assessment of the existing legislation and government programs that play an important role in the development of the tourism industry and tourism-based local entrepreneurships.
Key words: Tourism İndustry, Tourism-Based Local Entrepreneurship, Goreme-Nevsehir/Turkey