Abstract:

Tourism and culture are mostly considered together with each other. Cultural assets are seen as tourist attractions. The interest for cultural tourism is on the rise and tourists contribute to the culture economies in the destinations they visit. This study investigates the relationship between tourism and culture by deriving from the perception of high school and university students. The research field is selected to be a tourist destination, namely Foça in İzmir. Foça is a place where tourism has become a part of the daily life and local culture. The study is exploratory. Since the study prioritizes the understanding of subjective experiences and perceptions, a qualitative research design is adopted. The method of data collection is based on the open-ended question forms and the data analysis on metaphor analysis. Finally, the study provides the perception of students as local people about the culture and tourism as a stakeholder for the planning processes of cultural tourism and cultural heritage tourism. The research also contributes to the theory by identifying the perception of culture and tourism together. Additionally, as the study creates ideas for the prospective sectoral planning, it contributes to the sector-academy liaison.   

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