Analyzing destination attributes under fuzzy environment: A case study in eskişehir

Abstract

Given the understanding that destination attributes will often provide access to deep rooted knowledge repositories as well as offer historic facts, for a given tourist destination, it is vital to mention that there still is insufficient research being undertaken, conceptual or empirical, on the subject. Therefore, it is believed more research effort is required to further develop and increase knowledge on this subject matter. This study being carried out is in a bid to contribute towards the continued development of this body of knowledge and to also, increase domain expertise in this field. Within this study, there were two main objectives. First, was the ranking of Eskişehir’s - one of Turkey’s well-known cultural destinations - destination attributes in terms of its relative importance, by making use of tourism experts’ opinions. A fuzzy ranking methodology was adopted to help achieve this output for the study. Recognizing there are several fuzzy ranking approaches covered in our literature review, the choice made was to adopt the four most commonly used methodologies for the study. Hence, the second objective of this study was to test for statistically significant differences, between output results from all four fuzzy ranking methodologies adopted. This study is equally important because it contributes to the body of knowledge exploring the adoption and use of fuzzy ranking, in the evaluation of destination attributes. Consequently, results from this research will offer a guide to other researchers planning to apply fuzzy ranking to similar studies