Özet:

This study aims to reveal whether the socio-demographic characteristics represented by tourists’ income and education levels, age groups and income purposes have any impact on tourism demand for Turkey. The survey’s data set covers 24 countries, representing 77.6% of tourists arriving in Turkey in the period 2006-2017. The number of tourists from classed according to the socio-demographic characteristics, with the help of the Unity Corrected Cucumber Variable Smallest Quarter forecast, was estimated through the mouth-to-cout effect (the number of tourists from the previous year), the income level, the relative and residential price levels, along with the transport costs and the terrorism variables. The empirical findings of the study show that the number of tourists classified according to their socio-demographic characteristics react differently to the changes that occur in the describing variables listed above, but that the direction of these reactions is the same. Therefore, the conclusion is that in the design of Turkish tourism policies there is no place to take into account the socio-demographic characteristics of tourists. Furthermore, it has been found that the important determiners of international tourism demand for Turkey are the price level of residence with oral influence in order to indicate that consumer-oriented and competitive tourism policies should be monitored.

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