Attitude of Local People in the District of Yeniçağa in Opening up their Region to Sustainable Tourism

Abstract

The notion of sustainable tourism encompasses the thought of usage and preservation of all the components and the related consequences involved in tourism activities, in such a way as to enable us to share such values with next generations. In the present study, the attitude of the local people of the district of Yeniçağa in the province of Bolu was measured with respect to the sustainability of tourism activities attempted to be initiated in the region. A questionnaire of 30 questions including a section of 8 variable questions was applied to the residents in the district. The questions focused on measuring the attitude of the people in terms of ‘’social life, economic conditions and natural environment’’. The greatest positive effect between groups has turned out to be the one concerning economic conditions. Their attitude towards natural environment and social life has also been determined to be positive. In the light of the data obtained as a result the study, even though the residents in the district are not familiar with the notion of sustainability, they think that tourism would yield favorable implications for the district. Low positive effect of the findings as regards natural environment probably results from the lack of knowledge of local people on sustainability. In the concluding part, the study provides a set of recommendations addressing the tourism activities to be initiated in the district.