Tourism successis an important parameter of regional development. The way a society perceivestourismand existing issues and the rate of participation in political decisions are also important factors,particularly for developing regions. In this sense, the perspective of the locals provides a significant cluefor researchers and policy makers. In this study, the tourism development of Adıyaman, one of thepotential tourism destination of Turkey, has been analyzed through a societal perspective. 187 peoplehave been selected through convenience sampling method under the scope of the study and they havebeen posed open-ended questions. The acquired data have been categorized under three sections as sociocultural, socio-economic and geographic barriers. As a result of the study, the most significant barriersfor tourism are defined as the local administration, investment, transport and promotion