Özet:

Today, many countries with adequate tourism potential appear to be in competition with each other in the international tourism market in order to provide the foreign exchange entrance necessary for economic growth and development, to increase employment opportunities, market share and national income. The priority of the study is to determine what the factors that determine the comparative competitiveness within the Mediterranean region in terms of the tourism sector in Turkey can be. For this purpose, a survey was conducted in the Muğla region, which was selected as an example for the whole of Turkey, with a total of 881 foreign tourists from the period July-August 2004 and 429 industry representatives consisting of accommodation companies, travel agencies and tour guides. The research found that Turkey’s closest rivals in the Mediterranean region are Spain, Greece, Italy, France and Cyprus. However, the factor that affects Turkey’s competitive strength in the international tourism sector is the guestness and the factor that affects Turkey’s competitiveness in the international tourism sector is the distance. As a result of the study, in light of the research findings, the theory and industry representatives are also presented with repeated recommendations.

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