The Reasons for choosing to visit, problems faced by, and expectations of tourists visiting Turkey from Commonwealth of Independent Stastes (CIS)

ABSTRACT THE REASONS FOR CHOOSING TO VISIT, PROBLEMS FACED BY, AND EXPECTATIONS OF TOURISTS VISITING TURKEY FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES( CIS ) İlgar MEMMEDOV Master Thesis, Business Department Supervisor: Assistant Prof. Dr. Fatma DEMİRCİ OREL April 2003, 126 pages The importance of tourism sector has increased recently due to the role it plays in business life of Turkey. It brings a considerable income in terms of foreign currency, that provides the country with new employment environments. That is why all countries participating in tourism activity allocate their funds for promotion purposes and marketing research activities in order to expand their market within the world tourism. However, tourism sector in Turkey experiences serious problems which have not been considered yet to be important enough. Tourism sector has a very sensitive and at the same time complicated structure that is why the desired growth can be achieved only through dynamic marketing activities. For a successful marketing in tourism it is important to perform research in this area. For this purpose it is important to learn more about demographic and socio-economic structures and expectations and problems of the tourists that visit the country. This knowledge will help us correct the faults and satisfy the tourists completely. This study is basically divided into three sections. The first two sections examine the existing literature on marketing services in tourism sector; tourists' demands towards Turkey; and the factors that affect these demands. In the third section, based on this literature, a field study is conducted to investigate the reasons for choosing to visit, problems faced, and expectations of tourists visiting Turkey from CIS countries. According to the findings of this study; it has been found that the problems faced by tourists from CIS countries during their holidays in Turkey have a moderate effectVI choosing Turkey for the next time. However, the expectations do not have the same effect on their destination choice. So it has been concluded that the low price is the main factor why tourists from these countries choose Turkey. Keywords: CIS, Turkish Tourism, Tourism in Turkey, The Problems of Tourists from CIS, The Expectations of Tourists from CIS. f.£. TfteS&Ö?SIEYtei KBtWJ