5. Discussion and conclusions
This study investigated to what extent the city of Istanbul, Turkey is being marketed and promoted as a culinary destination. Official brochures and websites for Istanbul were content analyzed. This is one of the first studies to investigate how far a leading urban destination in a developing country is marketed and promoted as a culinary destination. The research findings offer specific theoretical and practical implications. This study discusses the representation of local foods in official promotional materials that aim to market Istanbul as a culinary destination. Local foods in Istanbul in particular and in Turkey are an important resource that can enhance not only tourist experience but also the destination's image. Foods in destination reflect a sense of place (Bessiere, 1998; Jolliffe, 2016; Sims, 2009).
Foods and culinary resources in a destination also represent geography, climate, authenticity, history, culture, and nostalgia (Lee & Scott, 2015). However, the research findings suggest that although Istanbul has rich culinary resources and offers many domestic and international cuisines, the city is not sufficiently marketed and promoted as a culinary destination. Destinations like Istanbul offer many alternative tourism attractions and local foods may still be secondary to other aspects of marketing communications. However, integrating local foods in destination marketing is still important for local, authentic gastronomy to counter the homogenization of food (Everett & Slocum, 2013).
