Özet:

The place of the tourism sector in the world economy has increased every day, the importance of tourist destinations (destinations) has also increased. The fact that tourists prefer a destination depends largely on the image of the destination. At this point, it is important to reveal how the destination image is perceived by tourists in terms of the development of the destination and the length of life as a tourist product.   The purpose of this study is to emphasize the importance of the image perception and the image perception that the destination of Sakarya has. In the study, first in the light of literature, the concepts of destination, image and perception were explained, referring to the tourist supply and demand elements that make the Sakarya destination attractive. The image of the Sakarya destination was tried to be measured by applying an survey to students who are studying at Sakarya University. The data obtained from a total of 862 participants were subjected to various statistical analyses. According to the findings; the perception of the participants' image towards the destination, while some data showed significant differences (training stage, income status), and some data showed no significant differences (gender, age). As a result, the conclusion is that the image of the Sakarya destination is positive at the middle level with the perspective of the Sakarya University students.