Qualitative research on the evaluation of luletikine processing in Eskişehir for the development of the destination brand

The brand, which is considered to be the most effective element of destination marketing, is a difficult process because of the poor controllability of the products and requires long-term investment. Destination brand is a new concept in the literature. Destination brand has been increasing in recent years by attracting tourists, foreign investors and increasing the general outlook in international and national areas. The branding of the destination is seen as a name, logo, symbol, music or a combination of all that give identity to the destination and differentiates it from its competitors. The goal of this research is to evaluate the meerschaum processing of Eskişehir with the stakeholders in order to develop the destination brand; to provide solutions to the problems of production, design, training and contribution to the destination brand. Within the scope of the research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the stakeholders interested in meerschaum processing and content analysis was used from the qualitative data analysis method to analyze the collected data. As a result of the research, the value added by meerschaum processing art to the destination brand of Eskişehir was examined through interviews with stakeholders. It is understood that meerschaum processing was stagnant for a while but it was recently tried to be revived by the stakeholders. Stakeholders believe that this vitality cannot happen for a short time and will be realized as a result of long studies. Keywords: Destination Marketing, Destination Brand, Meerschaum, Meerschaum Processing