The tourism sector has been represented at a ministerial
level for more than 30 years in Turkey, but a contemporary
approach to tourism development has not
developed (Tosun, 1998b). Although enacting the legislation
of the Tourism Incentives Law No. 2634 appears to
have provided a more detailed structure for the tourism
development; it was not the objective to create sustainable
tourism development. Rather, the main objective
was to achieve tourism growth in volume and value
terms, in both demand and supply-side aspects. In the
words of Brotherton and Himmetoglu (1997, p. 77); &The
plans have essentially consisted of volume/value objectives
designed to be achieved through an allocation of
state-owned resources and the provision of a range of
incentives to help facilitate the achievement of these
goals'. In the broader context of sectoral development
planning, these activities in relation to tourism growth in
Turkey are not e!ective planning and do not re#ect the
concerns of contemporary development approaches to
tourism development. Obviously, these activities are a
part of overall economic growth policy to achieve centrally
determined objectives driven by not only the need
of the country, but also by dominant business interests.
Yet it may be said that in the absence of a fairdistr ibution
of the fruits of economic growth across the social
spectrum, such a policy may be counter-productive.