An institutional appraisal of tourism development and planning: the case of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC)

This paper aims to explore and analyze the structure of the tourism sector in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. It identifies the principal institutions and organizations responsible for development and planning in this sector. In order to achieve this goal, the first section of the paper offers a historical overview of the evolution of the tourism sector in Cyprus up to 1974. The second section of the paper examines the post-1974, period, when the island was divided into separate geographical and political entities. The paper focuses on Northern Cyprus (TRNC), as a separate political and economic unit independent of Southern Cyprus (the Republic of Cyprus) and it pinpoints the main variables that have caused the tourism sector in the North to lag behind the South. Among these variables, internal factors (i.e., institutions) are of prime concern in this study as they have proven to be profoundly inefficient and irresponsive, which has resulted in the tourism sector not achieving its economic potential. The final part of the paper presents an organizational model designed to overcome the policy and planning problems of the tourism sector in the TRNC. The paper concludes that those institutions in charge of, and responsible for, the development of the tourism sector have failed to formulate and define a clear policy for this sector. This lack of clarity and direction in respect of policy, planning and strategy has resulted in no real, concrete integrative planning for the tourism sector. One of the other principal aims of the study is to answer the question as to why the North, has, for the last two and half decades, failed to develop a viable tourism sector despite the existing resources. The theoretical background for this study is based on a concept of “institutionalism” and tries to show the extent to which it aids understanding of the problems faced by less developed countries. This study contends that an analysis based on 'institutionalism' is also conducive to Island economies in general and North Cyprus's case in particular, it also shows the need for high profile involvement by the state in reviving economies in the absence of various resource endowments.