Abstract:

There are many factors that affect the competitiveness of a destination. The study aims to determine the competitive characteristics of Ayvalık destination, which is considered to be very advantageous in terms of natural, historical and cultural attractions. In the study, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 11 tourism stakeholders in Ayvalık destination. Rank scale, descriptive and content analysis were applied to the data obtained from the interviews. Research results indicate that the strengths of competitiveness of Ayvalık destination are sea, gastronomy and historical architecture. It is revealed that the stakeholders perceive the Ayvalık destination superior to its competitors in terms of gastronomy and alternative tourism diversity, while they evaluate it as weak in terms of promotion, service quality, cooperation between stakeholders, customer base diversity, image, entertainment diversity, local government support and city planning. In addition, the stakeholders consider that long-term plans do not be made to increase the competitive power of the destination, the cooperation between the stakeholders is insufficient and the tourism potential of the destination do not be evaluated sufficiently. Short season and uncertainty are considered as the most important structural problems that make stress the businesses.

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