Investigation of Employee Attitudes Towards Chinese Tourists After the Covıd-19 Pandemic in The Context of The Contact Hypothesis

Abstract

It is seen that the COVID-19 pandemic, which seriously affects and changes life all over the world, is also significantly effective in the relations between groups. In this context, the main purpose of the present study is to examine whether there is a difference between the attitudes of the accommodation business employees operating in Çanakkale, which hosted Chinese tourists intensively before the Covid-19 pandemic, before and after contact with Chinese tourists after Covid-19 and making suggestions on the ways to be followed in case the travel restrictions are over and contact is made again. In this context, structured interviews were held with the participants working in different departments of different accommodation businesses operating in Çanakkale; The obtained data were analyzed by using content analysis and descriptive
analysis techniques. As a result of the study, the attitudes and thoughts of the participants towards Chinese tourists before they started working in the sector were positive; but it has been determined that this situation has changed after he started working in the sector. In addition, it has been determined that the participants have negative attitudes towards Chinese tourists after the Covid-19 pandemic, and they associate this situation with Chinese tourists. As a result of the research, based on the contact hypothesis, some suggestions were made in order to increase the contact towards Chinese tourists and change them positively.