COVID-19 and its Economic Implications for Turkish Tour Guides

The COVID-19 outbreak, which became one of the most stunning pandemics of the modern era, had a truly global effect on the world economy in a short period of time. Almost all countries were negatively impacted by the outbreak, which practically paralysed global life and resulted in negative dynamics, unprecedented conditions, and obstacles. Türkiye was not immune to this, having felt seriously negative consequences during this period. Tourism, nearly coming to a complete interruption for the first time since World War II in the 21st century, happened to be one of the hardest hit industries. The industry of tourism in Türkiye, steadily growing over the previous decade was subjected to this difficult process, bringing the situation to a near-standstill. Tour guides who are major front-line employees in the industry experienced this negativity and faced numerous job-related challenges. With these considerations in mind, the present study sought to uncover how the COVID-19 outbreak impacted Turkish tour guides. For this purpose, a sample of 26 certified tour guides associated with the Izmir Chamber of Tour Guides were interviewed using a semi-structured interview form in September 2021. The study findings reveal that the COVID-19 outbreak greatly affected tour guides, reducing their sources of income while maintaining most of their fixed expenses. To ensure their survival, tour guides require more supports, particularly financial ones

Interfaith Tourist Behaviour at Religious Heritage Sites: House of the Virgin Mary Case in Turkey

This study questions selected behavioural aspects of travellers belonging to different religious beliefs during their religious heritage site visits. Tourist behaviour needs to be analysed in specific circumstances. This study aims to clarify in situ problems experienced by religious tourists, behavioural differences of tourists with different beliefs, and religious tourist behaviour regarding cultural heritage site protection. A qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews has been followed. Documentary analysis provided secondary data. On-site observation and face-to-face interviews with key-informants provided primary data. Snowball (referral) sampling was applied as non-probability sampling was convenient for data collection. Primary data suggest that visitor behaviour tends to differentiate based on religious faith and age of visitors. Young Turkish Muslim visitors (Gen Y) seemed to have superficial contact with holy sites especially when the site does not represent their own faith. This superficiality seemed higher for Euro Turks and young male students. Muslims and Christians exhibit similarities (deeper interest and respect with increasing age) and dissimilarities (more female interest in Muslims, more on-site praying for Christians)

Turizm İşletmelerinde Kalite Fonksiyon Göçerimi: Seyahat Acentelerine Yönelik Varsayımsal Bir Yaklaşım

Having emerged in Japan in 1966, The Quality Function Deployment (QFD) concept developed day by day as a result of successful implementations and spread over to western countries. Initially, aim of this method was to prevent inferior product design mostly experienced in manufacturing and assembly phases of industrial sectors. However, in the following periods QFD was accepted by other sectors. Being a customer-oriented product design and development model, QFD required a thorough specific and technical jargon and detailed computations at initial stage. Actually, social and psychological aspects of the language are also used. Moreover, QFD found a fertile application domain under Total Quality Management philosophy and it is becoming itself a production philosophy. Within this study, after having analyzed the emergence and development of QFD concept from a historical perspective, we have tried to clarify the concept itself together with secondary concepts. Then, we shed light on strong and weak aspects of the method. A relation is created between the method and travel agencies, which are a part of service industry. Finally, a hypothetical QFD implementation on a travel agency is carried out. Assuming this study to be the first in this domain, a strong wish of serving as guideline for future studies is shared by the authors. Kalite Fonksiyon Göçerimi (KFG) kavramı 1966'da Japonya'da ortaya çıktıktan sonra başarılı uygulamalar sonucunda gelişmiş ve batı ülkelerine de yayılmıştır. Başlangıçta sanayi sektöründe, imalat ve montajla bağlantılı alanlarda ürün tasarımında görülen hataları önceden giderebilmek amacı taşıyan yöntem ilerleyen dönemlerde diğer sektörlerde de kabul görmüştür. Müşteri odaklı bir ürün tasarlama veya geliştirme modeli olan KFG başlangıçta oldukça spesifik ve teknik bir dil kullanımı ve detaylı hesaplamalar gerektirmiş iken günümüzde sosyal ve psikolojik dilin de kullanımı da mümkün olmaktadır. Hatta denilebilir ki, KFG Toplam Kalite Yönetimi felsefesinin altında geniş bir uygulama alanı bulmuştur ve kendi başına bir üretim felsefesi haline gelmektedir. Bu çalışmada KFG kavramının ortaya çıkışı ve gelişimi tarihi perspektiften ele alındıktan sonra, kavram ve ilgili yan kavramlara açıklık getirilmeye çalışılmış ve yöntemin zayıf ve güçlü yönlerine ışık tutulmuştur. Hizmet sektöründe yer alan turizm işletmelerinden seyahat acenteleri ile KFG yöntemi arasında ilişki kurulmuş ve son kısımda seyahat acentelerine yönelik varsayımsal (hypothetical) bir KFG uygulaması yapılmıştır. Alanında ilk olduğunu düşündüğümüz bu çalışmanın bundan sonraki çalışmalara ışık tutması beklenebilir

Valorización sostenible del patrimonio cultural via tour guías: caso turco de efeso ciudad antigua

The concept of sustainability has become one of the most popular topics of tourism studies. Sustainable tourism emerged as a strong stream of tourism research based on the stance that tourism industry has responsibility for degradation of natural and cultural environments. Additionally, tourism industry consumes local resources and has to pay its attention on conservation issues. Tour guides are part of tourist experience in destinations and they have a strong influence on tourist behavior. In this study, the potential support of tour guides conducting excursions to Ephesus Ancient City located at Western Anatolia nearby Izmir metropolitan city is questioned for sustainable heritage valorization process. Ephesus is regarded as one of the great outdoor museums of Turkey, once the trade center of the ancient world, a religious center of the early Christianity and today an important tourism center deserves to be questioned through cultural heritage valorization concept. Role of tour guides in minimizing negative impacts of tourist traffic is rarely perceived and applied as a support to heritage site managers. This research seeks to reflect primary data obtained through qualitative data collection techniques (semi -structured interview) from Turkish tour guides surveyed at Ephesus Ancient City. Following the evaluation of findings, recommendations will be developed for tourism industry and cultural heritage site managers.El concepto de sostenibilidad se ha convertido en uno de los temas más populares entre los estudios de turismo. El turismo sostenible surgió como una fuerte corriente de investigación basada en la postura de la industria del turismo en relación a su responsabilidad en la degradación de los ambientes naturales y culturales. Además, la industria del turismo consume recursos locales y tiene que prestar atenciónal tema de la conservación. Los guías turísticos hacen parte de la experiencia turística en los destinos y tienen una fuerte influencia en el comportamiento de los turistas. En este estudio es cuestionado el potencial apoyo de los guías turísticos que realizan excursiones a Éfeso, antigua ciudad ubicada en Anatolia occidental cerca de la ciudad metropolitana de Esmirna, en el proceso de valorización del patrimonio sostenible. Éfeso es considerado como uno de los grandes museos al aire libre de Turquía, uno de los centros de comercio del mundo antiguo, un centro religioso del cristianismo primitivo, y en la actualidad, un centro turístico importante que merece ser estudiado a través del concepto de valorización del patrimonio cultural. El papel de los guías turísticos en la minimización de los impactos negativos del tráfico de turistas rara vez es percibido y aplicado como un apoyo para los gestores de lugares con patrimonio. Esta investigación procura reflejar datos primarios obtenidos a través de técnicas de recolección de datos cualitativos (entrevista semiestructurada) de guías turísticos turcos encuestados en la Ciudad Antigua de Éfeso. Tras la evaluación de los resultados, se elaborarán recomendaciones para la industria del turismo y para los gestores de lugares con patrimonio cultural

Effects of Hot Isostatic Pressing and Heat Treatments on Structural and Corrosion Properties of Direct Metal Laser Sintered Parts

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the effects of various heat treatments on microstructure, hardness, porosity and corrosion properties of the parts. Design/methodology/approach – Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) process, various heat treatments and their combinations were applied to the AlSi10Mg parts produced by direct laser metal sintering (DMLS). Findings – It has been found that the HIP process, which is a post-processing process, reduces the amount of porosity in DMLS-AlSi10Mg material, thus improves corrosion resistance significantly. Originality/value – In this study, the HIP process and subsequent T6 heat treatments were applied to AlSi10Mg parts produced by the DMLS technique. The study aims to increase the corrosion resistance of AlSi10Mg parts by reducing porosity with the HIP process and by altering the microstructure with the T6 process

CONTRIBUTIONS OF INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE TO LOCAL ECONOMY IN BEYPAZARI TOURISM DESTINATION

Beypazarı county in Ankara-Turkey, where a revitalization of intangible cultural heritage assets is observed in the last decade, may be assessed as a success story. This recent economic development seems to be a byproduct of tourism industry and cultural heritage combination nearby other factors. In this context, intangible cultural heritage elements such as handcrafts and traditional kitchen are harmonized with elegant historical architecture dating back to Ottoman period. Discovering lessons regarding ICH protection from Beypazarı case as a rich and deep place of memory is the focus of this study. This research follows the situational analysis method known also as case study. Primary data obtained via semi-structured in-depth interviews with key-informants will be interpreted for development of recommendations

Microstructure Evolution and Surface Quality of Laser-Sintered Maraging Steel Parts Produced on Different Building Platform Positions

This study reveals the effects of building platform position on the surface quality and microstructure of maraging steel parts fabricated by Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS). Six identical parts were produced with the same parameters in the corners and at the center of the EOS M290 building platform. Surface roughness of vertical, horizontal and inclined surfaces were evaluated. Dimensional and geometric accuracy was investigated by comparing the actual dimensions of the parts with the dimensions of the solid design as well as imaging geometrical details. Microstructure of the parts were investigated using optical microscope and scanning electron microscope. Results showed that the surface quality and melt pool profile varies depending on the positions of the parts on the building platform