Sustainable gastronomy tourism as a destination marketing element in the branding process of cities. The case of Antalya

Today, tourism activities are becoming strategic elements that increase their importance day by day in terms of regional development and improvement of welfare. Just like the competition of businesses, which has now moved to a global scale, regions and cities have also become competitive with each other through different tourism practices. As a natural consequence of tourism becoming an element of development strategy that is given more and more importance, different tourism activity alternatives and the use of different strategies for the marketing of these activities have come into question. Gastronomy tourism has become a remarkable tourism alternative in the branding of regions or cities and in increasing tourism revenues in accordance with this purpose. Providing a sustainable structure for gastronomy tourism and finding a place for gastronomy-based elements in the destination marketing strategies of the regions have also gained great importance in terms of branding strategies. In this research, which was carried out in the light of this information, it was aimed to evaluate the processes of destination marketing and sustainable gastronomy in terms of branding of cities. In the first three parts of the research, which can be described as a literature review, the details of the concepts of city branding, destination marketing, sustainable tourism and gastronomy tourism are emphasized. In the application part of the research, the analysis of the findings obtained from the survey conducted with 415 people who were in Antalya as a tourist or who had visited Antalya within the scope of touristic activities in the past and the results obtained from this analysis are included. According to the results obtained from the research, it has been determined that there is an important relationship between city branding, destination marketing and sustainable gastronomy tourism activities. In addition, it has been concluded that the characteristics of individuals such as their gender, educational status, and previous visit to the city of Antalya have significant effects on their perceptions of these concepts and their tendency to take part in tourism activities. Key Words: City Branding, Sustainable Gastronomy Tourism, Destination Marketing