Abstract:

The purpose of this research; To determine the perceptions of foreign students studying at university in Turkey towards the concept of Turkey and tourism through metaphors and to classify these metaphors categorically. The study group of the research consists of foreign students studying at Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University. Research data were obtained from 124 valid forms using a structured interview form. The analysis and interpretation of the data have been made with the content analysis technique. According to the results of the research, the participants produced 57 different metaphors for the concept of Turkey and 48 different metaphors for the concept of tourism. The most repeated metaphors for the concept of Turkey; hospitable, history a beautiful country, my second homeland and turan. The most repeated metaphors for the concept of tourism are; sea, sightseeing, money, entertainment, income source, economic resource and sea-sand-sun. In the categorical classification of metaphors, it has been determined that the metaphors developed by the participants for Turkey are mostly related to belonging and historical and cultural perceptions, while the metaphors developed for tourism are mostly related to classical and economic perception.

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