Abstract:

The primary purpose of this study is to determine the holiday preferences of gastronomy tourists that changed during the pandemic period, the effect of pandemic process on gastronomy tourism, and the local food consumption habits and attitudes of gastronomy tourists. In this study, in which gastronomy tourists residing in Edremit Bay constitute the population of the study; 316 questionnaire forms were evaluated. The data were analyzed in the SPSS program. Independent sample T-Test, One Way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis and simple linear regression analysis were used for data analysis. According to the analyzes carried out; there are significant changes in the holiday preferences of the participants; it was concluded that the interest in nature-oriented tourism types has increased, accordingly the hygiene element will be more important in holiday destinations and individual holiday programs will be prioritized. In addition, although the participants' willingness to participate in gastronomy tourism decreased, it was found out that the local food consumption habits and attitudes were high and the change in the willingness to participate in gastronomy tourism had a significant effect on local food attitudes.

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