Tourism, conservation, and subjective well-being in world heritage sites :|the historic areas of Istanbul

Abstract

This research focuses on the interrelations between subjective well-being, tourism activity and conservation efforts for residents living in Fatih, housing Istanbul’s World Heritage properties. Using a modified version of Happiness Index to capture perceptions of tourism and conservation, this research utilizes a household survey with 477 residents of Fatih district of Istanbul chosen via a stratified simple random sampling. Fatih’s neighborhoods in which data collection took place are categorized with respect their tourism focus, creating a spatial tourism variable. The differences according to demographic and spatial characteristics are determined on an item basis. Subsequently, using life satisfaction as a proxy dependent variable, the relationship between life satisfaction, well-being, and perceptions of tourism is investigated using binary logit regressions with respect to neighborhoods’ tourism focus. Findings reaffirm previous scholarship on subjective well-being in Turkey. Furthermore, they indicate that, in Fatih, residents in tourism-focused neighborhoods have more positive perceptions of tourism which also resonates in the likelihood of their life satisfaction. In line with these findings, distinguishing residents of World Heritage Sites in urban settings, and its ramifications for future well-being research in tourism-focused regions are discussed. The findings indicate that spatial distribution of tourism to influence patterns of subjective well-being in urban tourism destinations. In this context, social policy measures that would increase residents’ awareness in terms of cultural heritage and tourism are suggested.