Within the Scope of Nature Based Tourism: A Study of Visitor Comments on Narman Fairy Chimneys by Content Analysis

Abstract

Narman Fairy Chimneys is one of Erzurum's main nature-based tourism destinations. In this study, the comments made by people who visited Narman Fairy Chimneys about their experiences on social media tools were examined. Various suggestions about the destination have been developed in line with the results obtained. The current study is a qualitative research and it is a case study. Visitors' comments were divided into categories using the NVIVO 12 program. The comments consisted of two main themes. The themes created are the main theme of positive impressions, including the positive opinions of the visitors, and the main theme of criticism, which includes negative opinions. Both main themes consist of two sub-themes. Negative opinions theme consists of 30 critical comments. While 11 of these criticisms were directed to the destination, the other 19 criticisms were conveyed to the administrators. As a result of the research, it was concluded that the visitors criticized the destination especially about the promotion and lack of facilities. There is a total of 88 comments on the theme of positive impressions. 44 of these comments consist of comments recommending the region to other visitors, while the other 44 comments consist of comments praising the region. It contains the opinions of the visitors indicating their satisfaction from the region.