Effects of Events and Festivals on Tourism Potential in Recreation Activities

Abstract

Recreation includes activities that individuals participate voluntarily in their spare time. These activities are diverse in terms of tourism. They range from animations, city tours, museum visits to theme parks, festivals and sports events. In this study, one of the recreational activities and festivals are discussed. Events and festivals have a direct impact on the image of destinations. Activities have a direct impact on the change and transformation of destinations. These impacts can be listed as economic, socio-cultural and publicity. The role of events and festivals is especially important in the social development of local people, promotion of local products, maintenance of traditions and transferring to future generations. The main problem of this study is to determine the effects of the activities and festivals from the Love Peace and Friendship Festival held in Ereğli district of Karadeniz. For the purpose of the study, face-to-face interviews were conducted with semi-structured interview forms with experts who worked or interacted at the festival. With the interviews, it was seen that the festivals had positive effects on the district in terms of socio-cultural structure, economic structure, recognition, image and promotional elements.