The effect of gastronomic experience on visitor satisfaction: A study on tourists visiting the Aegean region

This study deals with the effect of gastronomic experience on tourists' travel satisfaction. First of all, it is expected that this study will contribute to the relevant literature and determine the effect of local cuisines on the travel satisfaction of travelers, advance scientific knowledge on the relationship between satisfaction and local food, and contribute to the fields of food tourism. In this context, the study tries to discover how the gastronomic experience of domestic tourists visiting the Aegean Region can be an important factor on their overall travel satisfaction. In this context, the aim of this study is to determine the relationship between experiencing the foods that make up the local cuisine of the Aegean region and giving it a gastronomic identity and the general travel satisfaction of the local tourists visiting the Aegean Region. This research was designed quantitatively, and scale was used as a data collection tool, since the answers of the participants could give the result of their personal evaluations and because it was the most appropriate method to reach a large number of participants. Scale data is called the data obtained as a result of answering certain pre-prepared questions by giving them to the participants. Within the scope of the study, Şirince in İzmir, Kuşadası in Aydın, Bodrum in Muğla, Pamukkale in Denizli, Ulubey Canyon and Atapark Observatory in Uşak, Phrygia, Ayazini Village and Emre Lake in Afyonkarahisar, Aizanoi Ancient City in Kütahya. scales have been applied. Three groups of two people were organized in each of the seven provinces on 24-25 December 2022, and a total of 350 scales, 50 of which were scales, were collected. In this study, which was conducted on domestic tourists visiting the Aegean Region, it was concluded that experiencing gastronomic products has a significant effect on tourists' travel satisfaction.