Determining the significance levels of gastrodiplomacy elements by the AHP method

Gastro diplomacy is the recognition of a country's culture by the citizens of another country through gastronomy and creating public opinion in that country. In this respect, gastro diplomacy acts as a bridge in promoting the culture of a country. The main purpose of this study is to determine the importance levels of gastro diplomacy elements. Within the framework of this stated purpose, first of all, an in-depth literature review was conducted to determine the elements of gastro diplomacy. As a result of the literature review, a pool of elements related to expressions that can be gastro diplomacy elements has been obtained. Delphi technique was used in order to provide a general consensus and consensus on the gastro-diploma elements obtained. The Delphi technique was carried out in three stages. At the end of this process, 7 main elements of gastro diplomacy were obtained: "Events", "Education", "Legal regulations", "Stakeholders with real identity", "Information sources", "Aesthetics" and "Stakeholders with legal identity". In addition, a total of 41 gastro diplomacy sub-elements belonging to the main elements were determined. After the gastro-diplomacy elements were determined, the process determining the importance levels of the elements constituting the main purpose of the research was carried out. In this process, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was used to determine the importance levels of the elements. As a result of the analyzes carried out, "Information Resources", "Events" and "Aesthetics" were the most important main elements of gastro diplomacy, respectively, while the element of "Education" was the main element of gastro diplomacy with the lowest level of importance. When the sub-elements of "Information Resources", which is the most important main element, are examined, it is seen that the sub-element with the highest level of importance is "Social media". In line with these findings, suggestions were made for the relevant public institutions, the sector and the literature.