An Assessment of the Vacation Preferences and Buying Behaviour of Foreign Tourists Visiting Turkey

Abstract

When studies in the field of tourism are reviewed, it is seen that what directs people to tourism are mainly demand-side factors such as psychological, demographic and socio-cultural factors. A Mediterranean country surrounded on three sides by the sea, Turkey is one of the most important destinations of mass tourism for the trio of sea-sand-sun worldwide. We can regard this as evidence of the fact that countries with colder climates than Turkey such as the Russian Federation, Germany, Ukraine, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom are the top five countries that send tourists to Turkey in recent years. In this context, the subject of this study is investigating and analysing previous research and statistical data on vacation preferences and buying behaviour of the foreign tourists coming to Turkey. The findings show that in mass tourism, a large portion of the foreign visitors that visit Turkey prefer touristic products that include package tours and the all-inclusive system. The study compiles and assesses the aforementioned vacation preferences and buying behaviour of foreign tourists.