Eating behaviors of tourists and foreign residents

This study, which aims at investigating the differences between the eating behaviors of tourists in Turkey and foreign residents' in Turkey, tries to reveal the extent to which tourists and foreign residents are affected by the culture of the society in question and what changes are observed in their eating behaviors. The research makes use of Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), which was developed in 1986 and examined the ways various emotional states affected eating behaviors. Whether there is a relationship between the eating behaviors of tourists and foreign residents in Turkey has been examined through this questionnaire. The research has also examined whether foreigners that have settled in Turkey exhibit different eating behaviors when they are in Turkey and in their home country. The first questionnaire form was given, between March 2015 and September 2015 in Adnan Menderes Airport and Kuşadası, to 356 tourists who were selected by means of convenience sampling method and were visiting the city of Kuşadası for recreational purposes. 40 forms were rejected due to missing information, resulting in 316 complete forms at the end of the first phase. The second questionnaire form was filled by 250 foreigners who had migrated to Turkey and settled in Kuşadası and Antalya. The participants were given 15 days to fill the form. The forms were then gathered and the answers were checked. 214 forms were used for further analysis and 36 were rejected due to missing information. When the findings of the study were analyzed, three underlying results emerged. The first result shows that the participants in both groups are more likely to respond to external stimuli, irrespective of hunger. In other words, they cannot resist the external stimuli such as smell, taste, look etc. The second result obtained from the study is that tourists and foreign residents are likely to refrain from eating for weight-control. The third result shows that the participants exhibit limited emotional eating behaviors. The second research which was conducted among the foreigners who had migrated to Turkey and adopted Turkish customs showed that the eating behaviors of these participants differ, even if slightly, in Turkey and in their home country. When the results are taken into account, we can state that the participants' eating behaviors are partly affected by the culture of the society that they visit or settle, rather than their perception of foreigner status. KEY WORDS: Nutrition, tourism, eating behaviors, tourists, foreign residents