Shopping and Tourism in Turkey: The Perfect Combination

Abstract

Shopping tourism has been known to boost the appeal of destinations, generate local economic growth by creating new sources of revenue, stimulate local production, and support the development of the retail sector in destination areas. For these reasons, local authorities, including the ones in Turkey, support the development of a diversity of shopping venues. The purpose of this chapter is to assess Turkey’s potential for shopping tourism and to gauge the importance of different types of shopping outlets in attracting international tourists. Situated at the intersection of major trade routes between Europe and Asia, Turkey has always been an important destination for shopping. Tourists shop in Turkey for very different reasons. We found that these reasons and the nationality of the tourists are important determinants of the type of shopping outlets such international tourists to Turkey prefer to patronize. For example, most cross-border shoppers are looking for bargains and prefer to visit wholesale outlets and neighborhood bazaars. Western tourists, in general, shop for souvenirs and for the cultural experience, so they will prefer traditional markets (bazaars), while tourist shoppers from developing countries look for quality merchandise and brands in modern shopping malls. The combination of different types of outlets (malls, bazaars, wholesale, etc.) provides great opportunities for anyone who decides to visit Turkey, regardless of whether shopping is their primary or secondary motivation for travel. We also found that, of all international visitors, tourists from the Middle East have the greatest propensity to shop while visiting Turkey, and we suggest that more studies are needed on the shopping behavior and shopping satisfaction of this group, in order to better understand their particular needs and concerns. Knowing them, the authorities could better focus their efforts, so as to provide tourists from the Middle East with a remarkable shopping and travel experience, thus providing them with an incentive to return.