Do tourists' gastronomic experiences differ within the same geographical region? A comparative study of two Mediterranean destinations Turkey and Spain

Akdağ, Gürkan | Güler, Ozan | Benli, Sercan

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discover the common and differentiating food factors that affect tourists’ gastronomy satisfaction by comparing tourists’ gastronomic experiences at two culinary destinations in the Mediterranean region. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 396 usable questionnaires were collected using a convenience sampling method from Cordoba (Spain) and Hatay (Turkey). The data were analysed through descriptive and multivariate analysis methods, including frequency analysis, multiple independent samples t-tests, χ 2 analysis and multiple regression analyses. Findings – The results indicate that both of the destinations primarily attract existential type gastronomic tourists; however, they also attract recreational and diversionary types of tourist, particul...