Investigation of the effects of gastronomic identity on sustainable tourism within the scope of stakeholders' perceptions

The quality of experience on the gastronomy offered with a regional identity consists of the unique products and characteristics of the regions. Gastronomic identity refers to the region-specific features which are impossible to be imitated and differ in cultural, geographical, ecological aspects and economic conditions and historical patterns. When the mentioned features are evaluated, it is seen that gastronomy is a type of tourism that increases the attractiveness of the destination by revealing the cultural identity, traditions and lifestyle of the region, strengthens the local economy by providing a competitive advantage to the region, and protects natural resources. In this context, it is important to consider regional gastronomic elements or gastronomic identity within the understanding of sustainability in order to protect, develop and ensure the continuity of gastronomy, which is an important travel motivation and which makes significant contributions to the environmental, social and economic development of destinations and is an important travel motivation. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of gastronomic identity on sustainable tourism within the scope of stakeholder perceptions. In this context, in this study, the impact of the gastronomic identity perception of tourism stakeholders in Batman province, which constitutes the universe of the research, on sustainable tourism and its sub-dimensions (economic, socio-cultural and environmental) was examined. Before examining the hypothesis of a developed theoretical model, an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to analyse the validity of the factor structure of the measurement variables. After the measure was validated, a structural equation model was used to test the validity of the proposed model and hypothesis. According to the findings, gastronomic culture which is one of the component of gastronomic identity doesn’t have a significant effect on the economic and socio-cultural dimensions of sustainable tourism but it was determined that it has a significant and positive effect on the environmental dimension of sustainable tourism (H1c: ß = 0.156, p = 0.000). Food quality which is a one of the components of gastronomic identity has a significant and positive effect on the economic dimension (H1d: ß= 0.218, p=0.000) and on the environmental dimension (H1f: ß= 0.218, p=0.000) of sustainable tourism, but it could not be detected significant effect on the socio-cultural dimension. It was determined that Restaurants / Food Places which is a one of the components of gastronomic identity has a significant and positive effect on the socio-cultural dimension of sustainable tourism (H1h: ß = 0.218, p = 0.000), but no significant effect was found on the economic and environmental dimensions. Gastronomy activities which is a one of the components of gastronomic identity has a significant and positive effect on the economic (H1i: ß= 0.661, p=0.000) and environmental (H1k: ß= 0.482, p=0.000) dimensions of sustainable tourism, no significant effect was found on the socio-cultural dimension. Furthermore there is no significant difference between the groups in relation to the gastronomic identity and sustainable tourism. However among the relevant stakeholders, local governments have higher levels of participation on gastronomic identity and sustainable tourism while those of non-governmental organizations were lower. The findings obtained within the scope of the research are important in terms of drawing attention to both the governance phenomenon and regional tourism plans and policies in terms of ensuring sustainable development in gastronomy tourism in Batman.