The Importance of Turkish Cuisine in Gastronomy Tourism

Abstract

Previous tourism activities included mass tourism activities considering sea, beach and
sun. In later periods, it has been observed that alternative tourism activities (health,
cultural, sports, religious belief tourism) started to gain importance as new tourism
products. During recent years, gastronomy tourism started to attract attention as an
alternative tourism. It is widely known that an important part of world's tourism revenue
comes from gastronomy tourism. Within this context, keeping in mind that Turkish
cuisine is an important one amongst world's known cuisines, it is observed that Turkey
possesses an attractive position in gastronomy tourism. With this study, the concepts of
gastronomy and gastronomy tourism were examined, and Turkish cuisine was investigated
against its possessed attractive values.