Planning of Tourism Development: The Case of Antalya

This paper discusses the influence of tourism planning policies and their interventions in the city of Antalya. In this context, tourism development policies and projects on Antalya, which are strongly influenced by central government, are evaluated by making a general historical overview on the tourism planning policy of Turkey. It is seen that big tourism development plans, projects and land allocations made by the central government, stimulated explosive tourism development and influenced the city of Antalya. Mass tourism development strategy has created socio-spatial segregation and environmentally less-sensitized tourism growth in Antalya. Based on the effects of tourism development in the city, this paper proposes a possible tourism planning approach that can reduce the negative effects of tourism development.