Abstract:

Abstract With its surrounding seas, fascinating history, amazing nature, and rich culture, Turkey stands as a country attracting foreign tourists. Besides all these attractions, it has also been preferred for its wide range of street foods recently. Despite the importance of the phenomenon, there remains a paucity of evidence on the motivational factors that drive foreign tourists visiting Turkey to consume street foods. This study thus seeks to elicit the motivations of foreign tourists visiting Turkey for street food consumption and to find out whether their demographic characteristics exert a significant effect on their preferences for street food consumption. To this end, the data was collected from 330 participants consuming street foods in three Turkish cities visited most by foreign tourists, namely Istanbul, Antalya, and Muğla. Cultural experience stands out as the major factor motivating tourists to consume street food, while the minor ones turn out to be escape from routine and health concerns.

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