Context of sustainable tourism development brand image of the city and Diyarbakır

The purpose of this study is to evaluate brand image of Diyarbakır city, based upon the opinion of the tourism shareholders and of tourists coming to the city, within the context of sustainable tourism development The universe of this descriptive survey consists of two groups. The local and foreign tourists coming to Diyarbakır generate the first group, and the tourism shareholders in the city generate the second group. 584 tourists were taken as sample group from the tourist universe and no sample group was taken from tourism shareholders universe, rather all 151 tourism shareholders were reached for the survey. "the questionnaire of tourist perception of Diyarbakır" and "the questionnaire of shareholders perception of Diyarbakır" were used as data collection tool. All data gained from the survey was analysed by using SPSS and AMOS packaged softwares. Independent T-test, one-way ANOVA, Mann Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis H Test and LSD were used as analysis method as well as descriptive statistics. Findings from the survey shows that tourists state that Diyarbakır –the city which is becoming a brand city- is a world city and a brand city. The first two images spring to their mind are Diyarbakır walls and water melon. Besides, the shareholders who attended this research indicate that Diyarbakır has a potential to be a brand city and the motto of the city is "Destination of Culture". It is indicated that Diyarbakır Cuisine and historical richness would provide an advantage on becoming a brand city, the city is "attractive", and the local people are friendly, traditional and frank. These results essentially show that tourists and tourism shareholders have a positive image about Diyarbakır. Tourism shareholders agree with being a brand city is important for Diyarbakır, thus Diyarbakır natives who live abroad should be involved in this process. Furthermore, they indicate that Diyarbakır would become a centre of transportation, health and congress. The results of this research show that Diyarbakır has a significant position in the region, and by taking advantage of this situation Diyarbakır can be a brand city in the context of sustainable tourism development.