Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how food neophobia, food involvement, tour guide performance and intention of local food consumption impact each other. Design/methodology/approach A survey was performed with a sample of international tourists visiting Antalya, Turkey, and the data were used to test the proposed research model by means of structural equation modelling. Findings Results reflected a causal relationship among the examined constructs. Although tour guide performance had an insignificant effect on food neophobia, tourists’ food involvement negatively impacted and decreased neophobia. Originality/value This study is an exceptional contribution to the literature, as it empirically investigates the role of tour guides on tourists’ local food consumption behaviour.

Cultural heritage sites impress the visitors by their ‘worth-to-see’ architectural characteristics and historical or cultural importance. Visitor experiences at cultural areas are also influenced by site atmospherics, and crowd, that form visitors’ overall satisfaction with the site. This study aims to examine the relationships amongst visitors’ crowding, and atmospherics perceptions, and overall satisfactions in a cultural tourism area. With this purpose, a survey was conducted at one of the most popular heritage sites of Turkey; Topkapi Palace, Istanbul. Data collected from 261 Turkish and 236 British visitors, who have seen the interior and exterior parts of the Palace. By factor analysis, atmospherics is found to have two dimensions, namely; service and spatial. Analyses results exhibit that both atmospherics dimensions positively affect visitor satisfaction, although perceived crowding has a negative impact or both nationalities. Findings of this study indicate that cultural heritage sites are the areas where domestic and foreign visitors may have similar kinds of perceptions and evaluations.

Purpose As one of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization initiatives, the creative cities network (CCN) declares the cities that are creative in the contexts of music, gastronomy, design, etc., with the aim of promoting cooperation amongst the member cities and maintaining sustainable urban development. This study aims to identify the destination food image of Gaziantep in Turkey, which is a member gastronomy city of the CCN since 2015. Identified destination food image elements were connected to the common targets of the CCN to show how the city may contribute to the network objectives. Design/methodology/approach A two-stage research process was used in the study. First, qualitative approach was adopted for the clarification of projected and perceived destination food image elements. Projected image elements were derived from a content analysis performed on a totally 113 official, semi-official and unofficial online documents in Turkish and English. Perceived destination food image elements were identified by face-to-face interviews, conducted on 10 participants. As a result, 18 projected and 20 perceived destination food image elements were obtained. These were then grouped under 4 main and 22 sub-categories. At the second stage, destination food image elements were matched with common targets of the CCN. Findings Destination food image elements, obtained by two qualitative studies, are grouped under 4 main and 22 sub-categories as follows: gastronomic identity (with sub-categories of destination’s identity and local culinary culture); diversity of the destination (with sub-categories of attractiveness of the local food, ease of promotion and high brand value); gastronomic attractions (with sub-categories of restaurants and cafes, culinary museums, farmer markets, orchards, gastronomy tours, gastronomy events (e.g. festivals, competitions), culinary education, books on gastronomy, certification systems, organizations, street foods and vendors and handmade or homemade foods); and qualified workforce and stakeholders (with sub-categories of expert chefs and cooks, specialist suppliers, service personnel, locals and local authorities). These are then connected to the common CCN targets (e.g. cuisine, tourism and festivals; extension of the creative value chain; fostering cultural creativity; and sustainability). Originality/value This is one of the early research attempts in examining a member gastronomy city’s food image elements and the role that they played in the success of the CCN’s common targets. Moreover, the study contributes to the literature on the identification of (projected and perceived) destination food image by using content analysis.

platformu olan Facebook'tan yararlandıklarını belirtmektedir (Brown 2018). Sosyal medyanın turizm sektörünün gelişimi ve turist davranışı üzerinde giderek artan bir etkiye sahip olması, destinasyonların pazarlama stratejileri içerisinde bu yeni pazarlama platformuna da yer verilmesini gerekli kılmaktadır. Nitekim son yıllarda Destinasyon Pazarlama Organizasyonları'nın (DPO) yüzde 60'tan fazlasının sosyal medya faaliyetlerine bütçe ayırmaya başladığı tespit edilmiştir (Lund, Cohen ve Scarles 2018).

<p>Our study aim to determine the current profile of sampled golf tourists visiting Belek, Antalya in high season and their perceptions of security using questionnaires to survey golf tourists in the sample were evaluated separately. The sample consisted of a survey profile of 280 golf tourists and their responses regarding security perceptions for Belek, Antalya. Chi-square testing and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Despite some negative developments in Turkey (such as terrorist attacks), the majority of golf tourists still remain satisfied and motivated to recommend the destination to others. The results of the study would be of help for tourism professionals, academicians and decision makers especially in developing future marketing strategies for Belek. </p>