The Evaluation of Eating Out Experiences of Local Tourists Visiting Gastronomy Cities Within the Framework of the Expectation Confirmation Theory

Abstract

With the spread of gastronomic tourism, more and more tourists are traveling to experience the cuisine specific to a certain region (Long, 2004). Gastronomic experiences are activities where the food of the travel region is sought and experienced. For this reason, food experiences while on vacation is an important motivation factor for tourists (Su, 2013). While providing culinary knowledge to tourists with food experiences, this experiences also direct them to search for new foods. The fact that food and beverages have an important attraction for tourists, ensures that they have a strong effect on the desire to travel for gastronomic purposes, destination preference and evaluation of experiences. In addition, tourists choose the foods they will experience with the desire to meet their expectations in accordance with their wishes. Having positive experiences after food selection causes a satisfied return from the trip (Kendir & Arslan, 2020; Keskin, Sezen & Dağ, 2020).