Cultural tourism includes many activities that change from one destination to another. For example, whereas music and dance events are important for cultural tourism in Bali (Dunbar-Hall, 2001), indigenous culture and heritage art centre for the tourism of Australia (Simons, 2000). On the other hand, the most popular cultural attractions in Finland are museums, festivals (Kantanen and Tikkanen, 2006: 100), churches and theme parks (Honkanen, 2002: 378). Additionally, cultural tourism includes “performances such as plays music, dance performed in theatres or concert halls” (Hughes 2002: 166) or visiting historical sites.
Many civilisations were established in Turkey and they left many cultural assets there; however, majority of Turkish cultural assets had enhanced by Byzantiums, Seljuks, and Ottomans. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Cultural Heritage List inscribed 7 cultural properties of Turkey (UNESCO 2007: 2). Based on Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) data (MCT web site), Turkey has 68.095 registered cultural assets: 19.512 of them are in Istanbul and hence, Istanbul has been accepted as a culture capital of Europe for 2010. Most of the cultural assets which have been found through the excavation are displayed in 175 museums (Turkish Statistical Institute- TUIK- web site) throughout the country. Number of visitors to museums, ruins, and historical sites in 2006 is total 16.086.050 that 8.362.830 of them are international tourists.
Turkey has also 112 theatre halls. Number of attendances to opera and ballet halls’
performance in 2005-2006 seasons is total 245.448 that 155.908 of them are foreigners (TUIK web site).
Based on WTO data (WTO web site), as one of the world top tourism destinations, in
2007, Turkey is ranked 9th and 10th in terms of international tourism arrivals and tourism revenues, respectively. On the other hand, according to TUIK data (TUIK web site), cultural tourism’s current market share changed between 5.2 per cent and 8.1 per cent in the 2001- 2006 periods.
Generally, it can be said that despite not having huge market share in the Turkish tourism market, the cultural tourism of Turkey has potential to attract international tourists with its product varieties.
Alaeddinoglu, F., Can, A. S. (2009). Developing international market entry strategies for cultural tourism of Turkey. International Journal of Human Sciences [Online]. 6:1. Available:
http://www.insanbilimleri.com/en
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