LITERATURE TOURISM IN KAHRAMANMARAŞ

Literary tourism is a type of tourism that gains importance with visits to real or fictional places, especially to destinations in Europe where writers and their work are associated. It is also of great importance because it ensures that the diversity of tourism is increased and spread throughout the year. Turkey has a very rich literary culture. If its value is fully understood, great gains can be made in the name of literary tourism. Kahramanmaraş is a city with a strong cultural background and many unique values. These lands have produced many poets, writers and bard from past to present. It is the only city in Turkey that has applied to the Creative Cities Network with the theme of literature. The study was carried out through the example of Kahramanmaraş, in order to contribute to the concept of literary tourism and literary tourism practices in the world and in Turkey. In the study, a situation analysis was made by making use of document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, and the advantages that literary tourism would bring to Kahramanmaraş were revealed. In order to develop literary tourism in Kahramanmaraş, it is important to bring places related to poets and writers to literary tourism in different formats, to make literature museums more functional, to organize literature festivals, and to create literary tourism routes. The development of literary tourism in Kahramanmaraş will contribute greatly to the tourism economy of both the country and the region. Keywords: Geography, Literature, Literature Tourism, Kahramanmaras.