A social impact assessment of cultural trails :|the case of Hoyran/Kapaklı in the Lycian way

Abstract

A cultural trail refers to an interactive, human intercultural network based on cultural properties, which has a specific dynamic and historical functionality. Cultural trails are complex entities in which the visitor has a direct and intense interaction with local people. This may cause a direct impact to the local economy, the environment and the socio-cultural fabric of the community. In this research, a community-based tourism initiative project, ‘A Historical Break on the Lycian Way’, is examined. This project is a collaborative undertaking of the United Nations Development Fund and the Anadolu Efes company, aimed at creating a rural tourism destination in two villages on the Lycian Way, Hoyran and Kapaklı. Data were collected from the project application documents and through in-depth interviews in August 2019 to the local people and other project stakeholders, selected using judgmental and convenience sampling methodology. This descriptive research combines Theory of Change, ethnographic summary and content analysis methodologies to investigate the social impacts of the project in terms of socio-cultural, environmental and economic changes that affect the local community of Hoyran and Kapaklı as a result of the introduction of tourism through the intervention. The research illustrates the changes to these communities that may be achieved via tourism projects in cultural trails and proposes a list of general and trail-specific indicators that are derived through the analysis of the data.