The effect of Turkish food on Chinese tourists' satisfaction and intention to revisit turkey

Since eating and drinking are obligatory activities for tourists in destination, the terms tourism and gastronomy are overlapping to the extent that make it difficult or nearly impossible to be separated. Countries' local cuisine consider as an important attraction, attract tourist from different countries over the world or impediment, alienate tourists of a destination. In the last years Turkey faced a radical decreasing of tourist's numbers and tourism income alike, which create a necessity to search for new market. At this point China consider as one of the leader countries of outbound tourism, in the same time the spending power of Chinese tourists recorded among tourists who spend the most in destination, which increase the importance of Chinese tourists for Turkish tourism. The purpose of this study was to investigate the Chinese tourists' opinion about Turkish cuisine and to determine which kind of food they prefer to eat the most during their stay in Turkey, and to examine the effect of the Turkish cuisine on Chinese tourists' decision to revisit Turkey. And finally investigate if Chinese Tourists are open to try new food (novel food) or not. A total of 400 questionnaire has been administered by researcher face-to-face with the sample during the international fairs in Istanbul, Antalya and Ankara between February and October 2016. The results of this study show that Chinese tourists are seeking to try new and novel food unfamiliar to their culture, however the majority of Chinese tourists ate Chinese food during their stay in Turkey, they mostly have Turkish food on dinner. Tourists from Centre and East of China consumed Turkish food more than tourists from North and South. While tourists from the West consumed Chinese food only during their stay in Turkey. In general most of Turkish food was fatty and seasoned for Chinese tourists and the most preferable dishes among Turkish cuisine was fish, meat, rice and salad dishes, while Turkish desserts was very sweet for them. Finally, the results show that Turkish food will not affect Chinese tourists' decision to revisit Turkey. Keywords: Turkish cuisine, Chinese tourists, Chinese cuisine, Food preferencess.