Evaluation of Local Restaurant Business Managers' Opinions on Afyonkarahisar's "UNESCO Gastronomy City" Title

Abstract

Afyonkarahisar is one of the important gastronomy destinations of Turkey with its history, cuisine culture and traditional food industry. In this way, it was awarded the title of Gastronomy City in 2019 within the scope of UNESCO Creative Cities Network and became the 3rd Gastronomy City of Turkey after Gaziantep and Hatay. The perspectives, criticisms, recommendations and activities of the local restaurant managers, who are important stakeholders in the field of gastronomy, regarding the UNESCO City of Gastronomy title are important. For this reason, within the scope of the study, it was aimed to determine and evaluate the views of local restaurant managers about the title of "UNESCO Gastronomy City" of Afyonkarahisar and the elements developed within the framework of this title. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with 10 local restaurant managers. During the interviews, 7 open-ended questions were directed to the participants with a semi-structured interview form, and the data obtained were analyzed by descriptive analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods. According to the findings, it was determined that the local restaurant managers' awareness of the title of "City of Gastronomy" is high and they have detailed information about Afyonkarahisar cuisine culture. In addition, this title according to the expressions of the participants positively affected the value of tourists coming to the city in terms of both quality and quantity.