WEB BASED INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR TOURISM RESORTS; 
A CASE STUDY FOR SIDE/ MANAVGAT 
E. Duran ^ *,.D. Z. Seker ^ M. Shrestha © 
* Ark Proje Limited Co. Sehit Asim Cad. Selkan Apt. 2/3 Besiktas Istanbul, Turkey - eduran@arkproje.com 
® ITU, Istanbul Technical University, Civil Engineering Faculty 34469 Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey — seker@itu.edu.tr 
© River Basin Research Center, Gifu University 1-1, Yanagido, Gifu-city 501-1193, Japan - madhu@ina.janis.or.jp 
KEY WORDS: GIS, Data Design, Internet, Web-based, Integration, User 
ABSTRACT: 
The internet is more and more emerging as a handy tool of traveling for the tourist industry. It presents a perfect platform that brings 
products and services to the customer. However, web based tourist information system provides not only on-line brochures, but 
provides both value and service. Information technology is having a big effect on all sectors of tourism. Tourists have problems to 
find what they are looking for, especially in reference to the geographic position of the object and its surroundings. In most cases, it 
is not satisfying to find a nice hotel without a reference to restaurants, sights or event locations located nearby. The study presented 
in this paper starts from the user needs, to present the tourism object in geographic context on interactive tourist maps supports 
planning for tourism, focusing on the analysis, decisions making and management using GIS technique and presenting the results on 
the internet. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Touristic activities on the coastal lines have accelerated and the 
number of people participating has reached to more than 600 
million a year. All over the world, getting maximum benefits 
from coastal zones, according to the concept of sustainable 
development is only possible by using management plans 
suitable for the characteristics of the area. Partnerships are 
becoming a very common; effective fast decision-making is 
possible using a geographic information system. During the last 
few years, the numbers of tourist sites / organizations that are 
using a Geographical Information System (GIS) have increased 
significantly. There are now many companies that are 
producing software and support specific to this industry. The 
tourist industry is now using GIS in many applications: 
interactive web-based maps, information kiosks, 3D hiking trail 
maps, analysis of current and potential customers, line of site 
analysis for new attractions and scenic bus routes, and much 
more. This only seems to be the tip of the iceberg for what the 
future holds in GIS technologies being implemented in the 
tourism industry. 
2. CURRENT USES OF GIS IN THE TOURISM 
INDUSTRY 
There are two categories for the use of a GIS system in tourism, 
public use and management use. The public wants to find 
geographic information about a place before they go there. 
They want to know where things are located, what amenities 
are available, what the climate is like, and be able to do site 
specific searches to find information. This can be achieved 
through Web-based GIS, or Information Kiosks located in key 
tourist areas. The other user of the GIS is the Management 
side; management may be done by individual operators, a 
tourism group, or by the local municipality. Management users 
want to query the system for where customers are coming from, 
  
* Corresponding author. 
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their socio-economic backgrounds, and good potential locations 
for new tourist sites etc. One of the articles contains a list of 
general questions that public and management users may ask of 
a GIS system. 
2.1 Study Area 
As seen in figure 1, in this study Side at the Mediterranean 
coast of Turkey has been selected as study area. This area is one 
of the most popular and important tourism areas of Turkey. 
With its modern tourist facilities, Side is nowadays one of the 
liveliest towns on Turkey's southern coast. The region situated 
between the "lake" and the sea contains many facilities. 
Titreyen Gol is not in reality an actual lake According to 
Strabo, during the second half of the VII century B.C., Greek 
colonists from an lonian city settled there. The area is excellent 
for mountain biking, trekking and cliff parachuting. Obtained 
results not only show that the problems still existing in the 
study area can be determined easily and systematically using by 
exposed GIS but also proved that GIS can be applied to these 
kinds of studies. 
There are lots of historical monuments and natural resorts in 
this area. Photographs of several historical and natural examples 
also can be seen in the figure 2. There are also several holiday 
resorts lie around this town. East of Side, tucked in pine forests 
the holiday resorts of Sorgun, Titreyen Gol (Blue Flag) and 
Kizilagac are both popular for their sandy beaches and 
sparkling sea. The atmosphere is relaxed, the accommodation 
plentiful and the activities endless. West of Side, the holiday 
centers of Kumkoy, Colakli and Kamelya also offer sun and 
sea, in close proximity to ancient sites. In the Pamphlyian . 
Seleucia, 15km northeast of Side, are the remains (in good 
condition) of Roman baths, temples, churches, a mausoleum, 
theatre and agora (Seker, 2002) 
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