The impact of local visitors' cultural travel motivations and perception of authenticity on satisfaction levels: The case of Şirince

The aim of this thesis study is to determine the impact of local visitors ' cultural travel motivations and perception of authenticity on satisfaction levels. For this purpose, the village of Şirince, which mentions its name a lot and is located within the borders of Izmir province, constitutes the scope of the research. A total of 391 survey forms were obtained. Frequency analysis, standard deviation, regression analysis, correlation analysis, and exploratory factor analysis were used to test research data. According to the findings of the study, the cultural motivation of local visitors coming to Şirince scale has the highest average of 'visiting places with historical richness' on the authenticity scale 'I liked the interaction of the region with the historical texture' and 'I will recommend Şirince to my friends and acquaintances' on the satisfaction scale. As a result of exploratory factor analysis, it was determined that there are 7 dimensions in total: cultural travel motivation, perception of authenticity and satisfaction. Correlation analysis was used to measure the relationship of dimensions with each other. As a result of hypothesis tests, travel motivation has been found to have an effect on existential authenticity, objective authenticity, and satisfaction. It has also been determined that objective authenticity and existential authentic perceptions have a mediating role in the impact of cultural travel motivation on satisfaction levels. Research data has been found to have a high level of reliability and validity. According to demographic data, it was determined that half of the visitors were women, young and single people, they had previously visited Şirince and had gone on a day trip with their friends. As a result of all the results obtained, proposals were made to tourism professionals and local operators in order to develop tourism in Şirince and to preserve the elements that are important for local tourists.