The role of local people in the tourism of local cuisine culture: The case of Zonguldak province

The aim of this study is to determine the attitudes of local people living in Zonguldak province towards the integration of local cuisine into tourism and to analyse whether these attitudes differ according to demographic variables. In this direction, local promotion, welfare and economic impact, socio-cultural and economic development, and local government support dimensions that affect the attitudes of the people were examined. The quantitative method was adopted in the study, and a questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. After ethics committee approval, data were collected from 419 participants. The data were analyzed using reliability analysis (α = 0.876), independent sample t-test, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The findings showed that demographic variables created significant differences, especially in the dimensions of local promotion, economic contribution, and local government support. Significant differences were observed in some dimensions according to variables such as gender, age, income, and field of study. As a result, it has been determined that the attitudes of local people should be taken into consideration in tourism strategies and demographic characteristics are effective on these attitudes.