Measuring the quality of service in ecotourism: The case of Gümüşhane

People travel to get to know destinations in the countries they live in, to visit other places and to visit different cultures. Although these visits are quite extensive, they differ according to the purposes of the individuals. These travels, which are shaped in line with the special interests and wishes of individuals, are included in the tourism literature as alternative tourism or special interest tourism. Ecotourism, which is one of the alternative tourism types that tends towards quite different types of tourism throughout the world, is one of the nature-based tourism applications. Ecotourism activities, which are especially important for sustainable tourism development, are also very important for Turkish tourism. In this research, it is aimed to reveal the service quality offered by ecotourism businesses in line with the experiences of tourists visiting businesses operating in the field of ecotourism. The universe of the research includes the tourists who visited Gümüşhane Zigana Mountain and Limni Lake in 2021 and participated in ecotourism activities. ECOSERV service quality measurement model was used in the research and the data obtained as a result of the research were interpreted in line with the research hypotheses. When the results were evaluated, it was determined that the dimension closest to meeting the expectations of the participants was the 'Empathy' dimension, and the dimension farthest from meeting the expectations was the 'Assurance' dimension. In addition, over the service resources, the management shows changes according to the age and education management. In addition, service quality dimensions show significant differences according to the age and education level of the participants. When the research hypotheses were tested, it was concluded that the dimensions of 'Empathy', 'Reliability', 'Assurance' and 'Responsiveness' positively affected the change in service quality and explained the variance between 74% and 87%.