The effect of gastronomic identity in destination marketing: The case of Adana

In these days when we arrived in the first quarter of the 21st century, gastronomic identity emerges as an important element in creating an interesting and unique touristic element in order for destinations to gain a place in the market as a result of the rapidly increasing competition, with the increasing interest in gastronomy tourism, which has emerged as a result of people's search for alternative tourism. . Adana has a culinary culture that is synthesized with its unique elements such as historical and cultural heritage, geographical and climatic structure, belief system and ethnic diversity. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of Adana cuisine culture and gastronomic identity in destination marketing. For this reason, it is aimed to investigate whether the unique food products belonging to the region or the region are effective in the creation of gastronomic identity and gastronomic identity in destination marketing. Questionnaire technique was used to collect the study data and the scale used was created by using similar studies done before. Within the scope of the study, a questionnaire was applied to 430 people, and 400 questionnaires were included in the study as they were found to be valid and reliable due to erroneous and incomplete answers. The obtained data were analyzed with SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) for Windows 25.0 software program. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that the gastronomic identity is effective in destination marketing. In the study, various suggestions are made in order to benefit the literature and the development of Adana gastronomy. Keywords: Adana Cuisine, Destination Marketing, Gastronomy, Gastronomic Identity