VitrA Çağdaş Mimarlık Dizisi - Arkitera

hotels and holiday resorts opened in metropolitan cities and coastal regions introduced
new sub-categories to the sector, such as congress, golf or winter tourism. Consequently
the natural, economical and social structure of especially the coastal regions has
radically changed during the last three decades. Territories previously used as fields,
pastures or forests have been rapidly transformed to tourism zones. Tourism has also
become an important source of employment with the thousands of people including
guides, waiters, gardeners and animators working for tourists. Small and large scale
investors including pension operators as well as companies owning international hotel
chains are active in the sector. Parallel to these developments, having a pleasant vacation
in different places, relaxing and having a good time have become a significant
part of peoples’ dreams and desires. In other words, tourism has culturally and socially
become a necessity.
How can we interpret the increasing variety and expansion in tourism activities? How
do these developments influence and transform the ways people see and perceive
the world? In order to respond to these questions, it is necessary to focus primarily on
the recent general transformation in the practices of consumption. According to many
social scientists, immaterial forms of production such as the image or the symbol have
become more dominant in economic and social life of after the 1970s. This can be
considered an important sign of the expansion of the particular consumption characteristics
of tourism to include other social processes. This expansion has reversed the
differentiation between the fields of art, sports, education, shopping and popular culture,
trivializing the differences under the umbrella term of consumption. The rising influence
of consumption activities in all areas of life has brought along the aesthetization
of daily life. In this process of aesthetization, people have become more selective and
meticulous, with consumption activities becoming the centerpiece for the formation and
expression of cultural identity. In other words, modern man has transformed into a
being that continuously defines its identity based on what it consumes rather than
what it produces. This state of mind also involves the concern of creating the new
image while consuming. One of the most important consequences of this development
is that consumption has become less functional. Consumption activities are directed
by image-based and symbolic concerns rather than physical and biological benefits
or usefulness. In today’s world in which symbolism has become increasingly
important, different fields of consumption have started to move closer to each other,
and even merge together. As the language, production techniques, marketing methods
and forms of consumption in diverse fields such as television and art, food and sports
begin to resemble each other, the clear borders that used to exist between various
fields have begun to dissolve. Put simply, the expansion and diversity in tourism has
primarily occurred as a result of radical transformations in the field of consumption.
Holiday resorts in general can be considered an example of this phenomenon. With
the increase in their number during the 1980s, holiday resorts have frequently been
portrayed in news and advertisements as symbols of a modern and luxurious
vacation. Initially intended to attract foreign tourists, holiday resorts have become, over
time, part of the dreams of local tourists, especially the wealthy and young middle
class. Today, the architecture, interior and environmental design, accessories and even
the costumes of staff are determined by a specific theme in most holiday resorts.
In other words, the vacation experience not only offers the sea, the sun, the beach
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