Evaluation of destination brand characteristics of Antalya from tourists' and tourism actors' perspectives

As being one of the continuously growing sector, tourism is suggested to be a sector which will have the largest capacity in 21 century. Tourism sector also has an important role in Turkish economy. Recently all inclusive system has began to adopted in tourism. This system brings some problems together. A tourist in all inclusive system knows about destination characteristics within the limits of the program the tour operator offers. Therefore becoming a brand becomes harder for destinations.The main objective of this study is to determine whether tourists in Antalya know brand equity elements and current situation of the city. For this purpose simple random sampling method is used and a total of 260 German and Russian tourists? attitudes toward statements are clarified. The statements that are related to the charachteristics of Antalya are also directed to the officials from different institutions in tourism sector. Tourists and officials attitudes toward statements are compared.As a result it is revealed that German and Russian tourists have different attitude toward statements. In general Russian tourists have more affirmative attitude toward statements. The points that tourists have limited information about the city are Antalya?s citizens, events in Antalya and sports facilities. There are also difference in attitude between tourists and officials. The point here is that the officials have more negative attitude (than tourists) toward statements except these statemenets: `Antalya is rich of natural beauties and features? and `Antalya is rich of historical places?