Conceptual Study on Tourist Attraction of Brand Cities: Antalya and St. Petersburg Cases

Abstract

Determination of the contributions of the cities, which have become a brand by providing an added value to the national economy, to the tourism sector is of socio-economic importance. This study, prepared from this point of view, takes Antalya as a city of sea/shore and St. Petersburg as a city of culture. Document analysis was performed taking into account the number of tourists coming to these brand cities, the purpose for visiting the cities, the number of overnight stays and the tourism income parameters of those cities. For this, document analysis method was used, which is one of the qualitative research methods and aims to analyze written materials with information about the subject. However, contribution of brand cities to tourism is analyzed from secondary data, and information is given also on the current status of the tourism market. Information on the cities were obtained through screening the statistics of the 2019 January-December term of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, St. Petersburg City Administration, Antalya Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate and Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB). In the light of this information, the distinguishing features of these cities, which are prominent in tourist attraction, were determined. It was seen that most of the tourists visiting Antalya come for marine / coastal tourism while tourists visiting St. Petersburg come for business and culture tourism especially from China, Germany and Finland. The importance of city branding was tried to be emphasized for two important cities of Turkey and Russia.