The Forecasting of TheNumber Tourists Arriving in Turkey with Intuitionistic Fuzzy Regression Functions Approach

The impacts of the tourism sector on countries are felt in various areas such as economy, cultural heritage and social development. Tourism contributes significantly to a country's foreign exchange earnings and positively affects the trade network. Tourists' spending boosts local economies and increases employment. These effects are particularly important for Turkey. Tourist visits can be used as a tool for regional promotion. Therefore, tourism demand forecasting is necessary to make the best use of these positive effects on Turkey's economic development and to plan tourism activities. Artificial neural network methods and fuzzy systems for time series forecasting problem are frequently used analysis methods in recent years. In this study, the time series of the total number of tourists visiting Turkey on a monthly basis is analyzed with the intuitionistic fuzzy regression functions approach, which is a generalization of the fuzzy regression functions approach. The analysis performance of the intuitionistic fuzzy regression functions approach is evaluated using fuzzy regression functions approach, multilayer perceptron artificial neural network and multiplicative neuron model artificial neural networks. As a result of the analysis, it is concluded that the intuitionistic fuzzy regression approach produces better forecasting results than both some artificial neural network models and the fuzzy regression functions approach. Since this is the first time that the intuitionistic fuzzy regression functions approach has been used in forecasting the number of tourists, the study aims to contribute to the literature and to help tourism industry employees to be more efficient and successful by providing them with the opportunity to make better future planning.