No abstract

Cyprus is the third largest island of the Mediterranean, which has hosted many civilizations for centuries and therefore blended many cultures within its body, revealing its unique identity with tangible and intangible cultural values. The aim of the study is to determine the awareness of the effects of legends, rumors, and mythological elements from the intangible cultural heritage values of Northern Cyprus, which can be evaluated in alternative tourism types, by the sector representatives, to determine the questions they encounter and to propose solutions. In the research part of the study, it has been tried to determine the problems experienced by the sector representatives, academicians, and administrators in the field of tourism in Northern Cyprus, while they are aware of the intangible cultural assets in the region and they are brought into tourism. In the research, a structured interview technique was used and interviews were held with tourism sector representatives, and the data were subjected to thematic analysis. According to the results of the research, all participants strongly believe that the intangible cultural heritage assets in Northern Cyprus are among the factors that affect the formation of cultural tourism. On the other hand, participants do not believe that neither the tourists who have visited Northern Cyprus before, nor tourism workers in the country, have enough knowledge about the country's intangible cultural heritage values. According to results Governors and Politicians in the country do not pay sufficient importance to the intangible cultural heritage values, admitted by participants. Therefore in this study, has made a few suggestions towards how to improve awareness of intangible cultural heritage values by visitors, locals, and governments and also increase the contribution of intangible cultural heritage assets to the tourism industry.