Movie tourism and destination image perception: Cappadocia example

Together with the increase in tourism movements and economic returns, they focus on promotional activities in order to make the tourist destinations of the countries with tourism value more attractive. After the realization of the power of films and serials to influence the thoughts and attitudes of individuals, films and serials were used as a means of promotion in tourism. Films and series can be effective in deciding the destination preference by creating a certain image about the places in the minds of the audience. For these reasons, it is stated that the image of the destinations where films and series are shot is also affected. In this context, the aim of the research is to examine whether the films and series shot in the Cappadocia Region create a perception of their preference for the region by creating a destination image for the tourists visiting the region. The data of the study was obtained through surveys applied to tourists visiting the region. Urgup, Goreme and Avanos districts, which are frequently used in film and TV series shooting, are the main tourist attraction centers of the region. Within the scope of this research, firstly, it was investigated whether the survey data applied to 400 tourists in the period of June-July-August 2017 are distributed normally. After the normal distribution was determined, T test and One Way Analysis of Variance tests were applied. It has been determined whether there is a statistically significant difference according to demographic characteristics of tourists. According to the findings of the study, it can be stated that the perception of the destination image created by the films and series made by the visitors in the Cappadocia Region is preferred by the visitors. Keywords: Film tourism, destination image, Cappadocia Region.