The Role of Local Cuisine in the Process of Destination Branding: Case of Nevşehir

Abstract

It has been recently recognized that culture of cuisine is one of the most important
heritages of a destination or a country. Nevşehir which is quite rich in terms of natural
beauty and cultural attractions has an authentic and rich cuisine. Considering this, it was
aimed to determine whether Nevşehir’s cuisine was used as an element of attraction for
tourism with its reflection of the richness of Middle Anatolian Culture and to determine
the probable contribution of local culture of cuisine of the province to region’s branding
with this study. With this end in view, first a literature review was made and a field
research was conducted based on the information collected. Semi-structured interview
method which is one of the qualitative research methods was preferred as the data
collection method. Open-ended questions were used in the question form which was
prepared based on the research questions. Tourism stakeholders such as mid and upper
level managers of restaurants which serve local cuisine, four and five-star hotels, boutique
hotels, travel agencies, and local governmental organizations (provincial directorate of
tourism and municipalities) were interviewed.