Abstract
Evaluation of Recreation Resources of Serhat Provinces: The Case of Tripadvisor
The aim of the research is to evaluate the recreation areas of Serhat provinces (TRA2 region: Ağrı, Ardahan, Iğdır, Kars) in line with the tourist experience. In comments shared on the Tripadvisor travel platform, recreation areas were evaluated on a provincial basis, with sub-themes of events and tours, museums, outdoor activities, nature and parks, touristic and symbolic locations, negative aspects. In the research, case study and phenomenological (descriptive) research pattern were preferred from qualitative research methods. Criteria sampling method was used from purposeful sampling methods. As a data collection method, the Tripadvisor website was scanned according to the names of the provinces and the “things to do” tab was accessed from the recreation areas and their Turkish comments. A total of 1624 comments were obtained and compiled from 33 recreation areas in 4 provinces on the platform. It is defined as a MAXQDA (demo) software project in the form of four separate documents for analysis. Content analysis was applied as an analysis strategy. Analyses were carried out taking into account reliability and validity. By peer review and inquiry, the research has been externally controlled. For reliability, the coded paragraphs, sentences, main theme and sub-themes were compared to provide consensus among coders. In the study, it was concluded that the recreation resources of Kars province were highly evaluated by users and that the most touristic and symbolic locations, came to the fore in these evaluated resources. In Kars province, where negative aspects are often noted, restoration work is insufficient and the environment of the ancient city of Ani should be evaluated for the tourism potential. The least evaluated province by the users was identified as Iğdır. Cıldır in Ardahan province and Ishak Pasha Palace in Ağrı province are the most popular places.
Keywords
Recreation, Recreation Resources, Serhat Provinces
