Abstract:

Abstract The tourism sector, which continues to grow rapidly, is one of the sectors most affected by natural and human disasters. The impact of the negativities created by the recent two major earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş on the Turkish tourism sector is inevitable. As a matter of fact, in this research, the potential effects of Kahramanmaraş-based earthquakes on the hotel industry are determined by the opinions of hotel managers in sample of Manavgat district. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 hotel managers. The interviews were analyzed by content analysis and four themes were determined as "changes in tourism demand", "tourism stakeholders", "effects of earthquakes on the district" and "earthquake precautions of hotels". As a result of the findings, it was obtained that especially foreign tourists had security concerns for the district, that the tourism season started late due to the cancellation of reservations, that tourism stakeholders acted quickly after the earthquake and carried out relief activities for earthquake victims and that earthquake victims started to be employed as well as being hosted free of charge in hotels. In addition, the fact that Manavgat district is not an earthquake zone, the presence of low-rise structures and the hotels participating in the research emphasize that they have earthquake-resistant buildings are among the important findings. Finally, in line with the findings obtained, relevant suggestions were presented.

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