An Investigation on the Awareness of Balıkesir Province’s Cultural Heritage Values Among Undergraduate Tourism Students

Abstract

This study aims to determine the knowledge level of undergraduate tourism students, each of whom is a cultural tourism ambassador, about the tangible and intangible cultural heritage values of Balıkesir. In addition, the opinions of the students on what should be done to increase the awareness of these values were tried to be determined. Tourism is one of the ways to improve the awareness of cultural heritage values and to protect and transfer them to future generations and adolescents have some responsibilities in this regard. Because adolescents act as a bridge in transmitting cultural values to future generations. For this purpose, the study population was determined as Balıkesir University Faculty of Tourism students. The questionnaire technique was used as a data collection method in the study. The research was conducted between February and March 2024. Questionnaires were administered face-to-face and 348 were evaluated as suitable for the analysis. Accordingly, it was determined that students know only a few of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage values of Balıkesir. In general, the awareness of cultural heritage values by students is low. Students think that cultural heritage is important for learning culture and that the most important stakeholder in increasing the awareness of the cultural heritage values of Balıkesir is the local community.