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WHY DO SO FEW LOCAL PEOPLE VISIT NATIONAL PARKS? EXAMINING CONSTRAINTS TO ANTALYA’S NATIONAL PARKS, TURKEY

National parks are considered to be the significant tourism and recreation areas that are widely used in many countries. Although these areas are widespread in Turkey, it is thought that their resource value is thought to be underestimated. For this reason the purpose of this research is to identify the constraints in regards to use of national parks by local people and study the effects of demographic features on constraints. Since Antalya possesses a good number of areas to be used as national parks in Turkey, a mixed method research was designed. In the first stage of the study 100 people who were chosen as samples in Antalya have been interviewed. In the second stage a questionnaire was conducted to 2367 people. As the theoretical framework of the study, a three-dimensional leisure constraints model was used. In the study lack of information/facilities (structural) is the main restrictive aspect for the people’s use of national parks. It is established that this was followed, respectively, by accessibility/finance (structural), maintenance (structural), social (interpersonal) and individual/psychological (intrapersonal) aspects. It is also established that demographic features such as; sex, age, marital status, having a child, income and education levels effect use of national parks. After all, existence of structural constraints and dominant national park use are assumed to be advantageous in constraint management. It is suggested, within this coverage that the Turkish National Parks and the Tourism Authorities should change their management strategies on the matter.