Abstract:

Touristic activities continue to evolve with an increasing acceleration all over the world. One of the types of tourism that provides the most important contribution is the youth tourism activities that bring significant economic and social benefits to the destinations. For this reason, it is important to determine the touristic preferences of youth individuals and make the businesses and destinations ready for these expectations. In this study, it is aimed to determine the touristic preferences of young people. The sample of the research is youth individuals living in Balikesir province center in the age range of 15-29 years determined by World Tourism Organization. The questionnaire was applied to collect data in the research and 398 individuals were reached as a result of the face-to-face interview method. The obtained data were evaluated by giving percentages and frequency distributions and arithmetic averages. It was evaluated with the help of nonparametric tests whether the factors that are effective in the vacation selection have significant differences according to the demographic variables. According to the results obtained from the research, the most important factor that youth individuals pay attention in selecting the destination is the price. While younger individuals indicated that they would apply the most internets as a source of information in the selection of the resort, they stated that they would prefer resort villages for the purpose of making a holiday. They also enjoy most of the seaside vacations. Nevertheless, the most important factor influencing the choice of holiday place is determined to receive the money back.

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