An assessment of the views of foreign tourists on food and beverage establishments employees and Turkish cuisine: Alanya case

This study sets out to evaluate the views of foreign tourists on food and beverage establishments, employees and Turkish cuisine and to serve this purpose a questionnaire was administered to 405 foreign tourists at five-star hotels in Alanya.The questionnaire was prepared in three languages and consists of two parts. The first part of the questionnaire accommodates demographic information, while the second part accommodates the views of foreign tourists on food and beverage establishments, employee and Turkish cuisine after and before they have come to Turkey and then their views were analyzed in three dimensions.Demographic and other characteristics of the participants were analyzed in frequency and percentage distribution. On the other hand, the views in three dimensions of foreign tourist before and after their visit to Turkey were analyzed calculating arithmetic average and standard deviation through SPSS program. It has been found out that there is a statistically significant relationship in the views of foreign tourists before and after their visit in terms of Turkish cuisine, food and beverage establishments and employee at p=0,011<0,05; p= 0,001<0,05; p=0,001<0,05 significance level, respectively. In order to find out whether there is a statistically significant difference between the views in three dimensions of foreign tourist before and after their visit, t-test was employed.When the views of the foreign tourists on Turkish cuisine are taken into account, it has been stated that Turkish dishes are appetizing in appearance ( =4,07), the variety of dishes are rich ( =4,05), the meals are delicious ( =4,00), flavored ( =4,00), with high nutritional value ( =3,95), and with unique tastes ( =3,91). Besides, it has also been found out that in terms of the overall evaluation of food and beverage establishments the service is fast ( =4,10), customer satisfaction is taken into consideration ( =4,06), and the atmosphere is appealing ( =4,05). It has been found out that the views towards the employee are positive on the whole. Data analyzed suggest that the employees are friendly ( =4,31), helpful ( =4,30), welcoming ( =4,28), kind ( =4,27), neat ( =4,23) and attentive ( =4,17).Keywords: Turkish cuisine, food and beverage establishments, employee, foreign tourists