Evaluation of the activities of regional development agencies in Turkey within the scope of tourism types

Abstract

In Turkey, there are a total of 26 regional development agencies, including three development agencies in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir with a single province, and twenty-three development agencies established by bringing together more than one province. Each province where development agencies are established has its own tourism potential. It is thought that this potential will increase the touristic demand in the context of diversification of tourism. In this context, the aim of this study is to reveal which types of tourism the regional development agencies prioritize in order to develop tourism in their regions and the relationship between the tourism types they support and the tourism potential of their regions. For this purpose, in this study, in which data was collected through document analysis from qualitative research techniques, the annual reports of regional development agencies published in 2020 were examined and their activities were subjected to content analysis in the context of supported tourism types. As a result of the examination of the annual reports, consisting of 2534 pages of 26 regional development agencies, it has been concluded that cultural tourism, health tourism, nature tourism, ecotourism, gastronomic tourism and rural tourism are among the tourism types that development agencies want to develop/support the most in their regions and especially provide financial support. From this point of view, in this study, suggestions were made to the regional development agencies by considering the potentials of the provinces they cover in terms of tourism types.