Abstract:

Abstract Tourists can participate in tourism activities to taste the specific dishes of a destination, to experience the culinary culture, and to see the production stages of the destination food. Especially in recent years, gastronomy tourism stands out as a popular and interesting type of tourism for destinations. Gastronomy tourism is a popular type of tourism that aims to provide the tourist with an unforgettable memory and emotionally satisfying experience. In this direction, this study aims to examine the gastronomic experiences of local visitors travelled to the Mardin and to reveal whether they differ according to demographic characteristics. Quantitative method was preferred in the study. The data were obtained by filling out a questionnaire form from 250 local visitors visiting Mardin. The construct validity of the scale was tried to be ensured by performing confirmatory factor analysis. T-test and ANOVA tests were conducted to determine whether the gastronomic experiences of local visitors differ according to their demographic characteristics. While significant relationships were found between the gastronomic experiences of the tourists and their marital status, age, monthly personal income, there was no significant relationship between their gender and educational status.

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