Managing intangible cultural heritage in the context of tourism: Evaluation of Afyonkarahisar province stakeholders' perspectives

The research aims to examine and reveal the local stakeholder perceptions of the intangible cultural heritage elements of UNESCO Gastronomy City Afyonkarahisar in the context of tourism. The study focused on five main objectives. In this context, it is aimed to separately address the awareness of local stakeholders regarding the concept and elements of ICH, their level of knowledge about the ICH values of the country and the city, their thoughts on the relationship between ICH and tourism, their perceptions on the role and contribution of ICH in the development of touristic products, their views on the relationship between ICH and Turkish Culinary Culture Practices and gastronomy, their practices and contributions and suggestions regarding the protection and sustainability of ICH. The study sample consists of 15 local stakeholders who work in public and non-governmental organizations in Afyonkarahisar and have a say in the elements of ICH, determined using the purposive sampling technique, one of the non-probability sampling methods. The research was designed qualitatively, and the interview was used as the data collection method. In the study where data were collected using semi-structured interview forms, the data collection process was completed with interviews conducted between December 2023 and May 2024. Thematic, content, and descriptive analysis methods were used to analyze the data obtained by converting the interviews into written text. MAXQDA 2020 qualitative data software was used for the data analysis process, and the findings were explained with direct quotes supported by visual tools through various analyses. As a result of the study, it was understood that (1) local stakeholders have high knowledge and awareness of the concept and elements of ICH; (2) ICH is already used and/or can be used in tourism as values directly related to tourism and with high touristic product potential; (3) ICH's economic contributions in Afyonkarahisar tourism have started to be observed, and it can provide possible contributions to the city economy; (4) Afyonkarahisar is an essential representative center of Turkey with its richness in terms of ICH Turkish Cuisine Culture Practices and these values are well utilized within the scope of gastronomy tourism and various contributions are obtained; (5) local stakeholders are actively involved in the processes with good practice examples regarding the protection, survival, and sustainability of ICH; however some aspects and deficiencies that need to be developed in this context.