CONSUMERS’ POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE REVIEWS TOWARDS LOCAL FOOD EXPERIENCES: THE CASE OF RESTAURANTS IN GAZIANTEP CITY ON TRIPADVISOR.COM

Abstract

Local flavor managements are the essential components of vacation and destinations. Most of the tourists taste local food and beverages that presents local culture during their vacations and tell these experiences to the people around them. At this point, one of the efficient ways for transferring these food and beverage experiences is the social media. Today, through social media which reaches to an important number of users, many individuals share their gastronomy experiences with their friends and others and form references with their positive or negative comments. Within this study, by using this important sharing world that internet provides as a starting point, the users’ social media comments on food and beverage managements in Gaziantep, the city which is included in UNESCO Creative Cities Network from Turkey, was aimed to be searched. Under this scope, 1462 comments belong to the top 7 food and beverage managements in Gaziantep, on interactive forums of TripAdvisor which is an important travelling web-site were analyzed. According to the results, managements’ food and beverage qualities and service qualities got the most positive comments whereas most negative comments were done on atmospheres and prices within these managements.