Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Tourism and Recreation, cilt.6, sa.2, 2024 (Hakemli Dergi)
In the last 20 years, UNESCO Global Geoparks have become the center of attention due to the development of geotourism worldwide. Geoparks have initiated the GEOfood project to contribute to their promotion, increase visitors' interest, and develop new sustainable strategies for agriculture and local food production. Thanks to this project, geoparks have started to add local gastronomic values to their attractiveness and to market them together with geosites. Gastronomy constitutes an integral component of cultural heritage, serving as a significant point of interest for tourists and contributing to the local economy and sustainability. It is thus imperative for geopark websites to provide information about the geosites, establishing connections with the region's gastronomy. From this point of view, this study aims to evaluate the current state of gastronomic content on the websites of European UNESCO Global Geoparks. To address the gap in the existing literature on this topic, a qualitative study was designed, and a content analysis was carried out on the images and texts published on the websites of 21 European geoparks, selected with a purposive sampling method. The study findings indicate that the gastronomyrelated content is not rich enough and needs to be developed, linking it with geological heritage. Given the significant role that gastronomy plays in the preservation, survival, and presentation of local cultures, it was concluded that it would be beneficial for the development of geotourism in European UNESCO Global Geoparks to consider cultural and especially gastronomic heritage as an attraction in addition to geological formations.
Keywords: Gastronomy UNESCO Global Geoparks Geotourism Geopark Website