The awareness on museums as the main symbol of culture on city tourism: the case of çanakkale

Abstract

The museums as a main element and symbol of cultural tourism represent an area of significant economic benefit to the cities. The museums market is heterogeneous with many and varied visitors, who are differently motivated and have different expectations on their tour experience. Therefore having awareness and concern on main theme and sense of the museums, on cultural heritage of the city as a cultural tourism symbol, is very important for the residents and the students who are studying on tourism as the candidates of tourism employers as well as importance of tourist awareness and concern. Thus the purpose of the study was to respond to the question, “What museums really are in opinion of students studying in Faculty of Tourism and do they have awareness about main themes of each museum?”. For the purpose of this paper, in depth interview technique was used on students of Faculty of Tourism to explore their awareness and perceptions on museums and observation technique was used on museums and other research fields to gain in depth and right knowledge. According to the results of the analyses, developing awareness of the students as a candidate of tourism employer on museums by its philosophy and thematic requirements in Çanakkale can be feasible in sustainability perspective because of its meaning on cultural heritage of the city as a cultural tourism product.