The role of word-of-mouth marketing in consumers' preference for thermal tourism facilities: The case of Esire Thermal Tourism Resort

In the globalising world, as a result of industrialisation and urbanisation, environmental problems, the emergence of diseases requiring thermal treatment, thermal tourism has been given importance in order to increase work efficiency in the working segment. In terms of tourism economy, thermal tourism is spread over 12 months both for treatment and for reactional interactions. Thermal tourism enterprises, which have an important place in the tourism industry with these aspects, apply different strategies to gain profit in order to be advantageous in competition and to increase their customer portfolio. First of all, it is to provide unforgettable experiences to the tourists coming to the thermal tourism facility, to provide a very good service with its appearance, design, comfort and quality as well as the need for accommodation. Customers who have a unique holiday experience are a very good marketing tool. Customers returning home at the end of the holiday transfer their positive or negative feelings and thoughts to their environment and spread their knowledge and experience by word of mouth. The aim of this research is to measure the effect of word-of-mouth marketing on consumers' preference for thermal tourism facilities. While investigating this issue, consumers (tourists) coming to Esire Thermal Tourism Facility were utilised. Although there are studies on tourism and thermal tourism in the literature study, no study on Esire Thermal was found. In this study, the statements of Bansal, H. S. and Voyer, P. A. (2000) on Word of Mouth Marketing and Consumers' Preference for Thermal Tourism Facilities, Kılıçer, T. (2006), Karaca, Y. (2010) on Word of Mouth Marketing Communication in Consumers' Purchase Decision Process, Kutluk, A. (2012) on the Effect of Word of Mouth Marketing in the Service Sector on Customers' Purchase Decision Process were used. The Role of Word of Mouth Marketing in Consumers' Preference for Thermal Tourism Facility: In the Esire Thermal Tourism Facility Case Study, the face-to-face survey technique method applied to the tourists coming to the thermal tourism facility was applied and the data were analysed with IBM SPSS 26 analysis programme. Descriptive Statistics and Crosstabs Analysis were applied to the statements of Demographic Characteristics and Holiday and Travel Information in the scale. Factor Analysis, T-Test, Anova Test, Correlation and Regression analyses were applied to the statements of consumers' thermal tourism facility preference scale and word-of-mouth marketing communication scale. In this study, as a result of the questionnaire applied to 222 people who came to Esire Thermal Tourism Facility operating in the thermal tourism sector, it was concluded that word-of-mouth marketing communication has an effect on consumers' preference for thermal tourism facilities.