Tourists eating tendecies of local foods: A study on visitors staying in all iclusive hotels in Antalya

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the behavior of tourists eating habits (consumption amount and consumption content) in open buffet restaurants and to understand the tendency of tourists to change their behaviors while on holiday and the tendency of consuming local food to influence the quantity and content of food consumed in open buffets of hotels. 280 foreign tourists staying at in two different all-inclusive resorts in Antalya are included in sample. Food neophobia, motivations, content of consumption, amount of consumption were employed from relevant literature. But there is not found the scale of changing behavior tendency literature, the scale is developed for the purpose of the thesis. First the reliability and validity of the scales were demonstrated using appropriate analyses of the data. Then correlation analysis and regression analysis were performed in order to test the anticipated correlations between the variables in the study model. As a result of the correlation analysis, it was identified that there is a negative relationship between food neophobia and perceived risk among the motivation. There is a correlation between content of consumption and motivations. It is also seen that there is positive relationship between the tendency to changing behavior and amount of consumption. As result of the regression analysis it was found that food neophobia and perceived risk have a significant effect on the motivations. On the other hand, it has been found that motivation dimensions influence the content of consumption. It was supported by the regression analysis that the tendency to change behavior was influential on the amount of consumption. From this perspective, it is understood that motivation is especially important for food consumption in all-inclusive hotels. In the light of findings, recommendations have been brought to the attention of future implementers and researchers. Keywords: Gastronomy, Gastronomic Experience, Local Food, Amount of Consumption, Content of Consumption, Tendency to Changing Behavior.