Özet:

Tourism is one of the most rapidly growing sectors in the world, continuing to expand and diversify for the last 60 years. And in Turkey, tourism has been contributing to economical and social development since 1980. Border tourism has an important share within the tourism sector. In the past, the borders were considered as limitations or barriers while today, together with the globalization, they no longer constitute barriers but are considered to be a means to boost tourism and economy. The importance of borders is increasing in line with this approach in many countries including Turkey. Border tourism boosts regional economy and increases employment by improving regional wealth. The studies conducted in Turkey, on the other hand, concentrate on border trade and border tourism is not sufficiently studied. Although border tourism and border trade are linked from the perspective of the development of economy, the present study concentrates on border tourism and its economical contribution in Turkey due to the fact of insufficiency of the studies concerning this issue. Sarp Border Gate in Artvin and Dilucu Border Gate in Iğdır are compared according to their entry and exit statistics within the context of border tourism. Before the comparison, the contribution of Sarp Border Gate which is an important location for Turkey and Caucasian countries with its geopolitical position, to border tourism will be explained and an analysis will be conducted on the contribution of Dilucu Border Gate which links Iğdır, easternmost province of Turkey, with Autonomous Republic of Nakhcevan.

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