Quality and value perceptions of participants on Gemlik book port "route of words" literature festival

Festivals are the events in which people participate to spend quality time with their families, friends or alone. They are held in specially designed spaces different from the concept they are used in normal. However, literary festivals are the whole of the events that emerge by adding literary culture to the events organized. There are many studies on other types of festivals in the literature. However, this study is one of the first studies on literature festivals. One of the aims of the study is to fill this gap in the literature. In addition, it is necessary to attribute quality and value to the participants as well as the organization of festivals. Therefore, this research also aims to reach the participants of Gemlik Book Port "Route of Words" Literature Festival opinions about literature festivals, their demands, perceptions of quality and value. Studies on festivals were examined, and a semi- structured interview form with 8 questions was prepared, inspired by the survey conducted by Yoon (2010) on the quality and value of festivals. Interview forms were applied to 20 volunteer participants in the festival area and the interviews were recorded. The questions in the form are designed to answer 3 basic research questions. 1. What are the motivations of the participants of the literary festival to participate in the festival? 2. What are the quality and value perceptions that the participants of the literary festival attribute to these festivals? 3. Is there a relationship between the satisfaction of the participants of the literature festival and their loyalty to the festival? As an answer to the first research question; The participants' motivation to participate was found to be diverse. The second research question, the quality and value perceptions of the literature festival participants; while the program and program flow of the festival, keeping souvenirs at the festival were considered valuable by the participants, the participant opinions were divided into 2. While one group of participants did not think food and drink suitable in literary festivals, another group thought it appropriate and even necessary. The majority of the participants made 3 demands for the festivals to become better quality; more writers and publishers must be invited to upcoming festivals, children's activities and event space must be included more, and the products sold at the festival must be more affordable. Considering the relationship between satisfaction from the literature festival and festival loyalty, which is the third question of the research, 15 participants stated that they got enough satisfaction and would definitely participate in further festivals, while 5 participants stated that they could not get enough satisfaction, but they would participate in future literature festivals without using the expression of certainty.