Abstract
Determination of Geographically Indicated Products of the Western Black Sea Region and Their Touristic Importance
Tourists’ desire to have different experiences in the region they visit and their demand on local products augment the interest in region-specific food, agricultural products, handicrafts and souvenirs. In this context geographically indicated products, due to their guarantee of naturalness, locality, originality and quality, are preferred by tourists. The purpose of this research to determine the geographically indicated products as well as the ones in the geoghraphical application process of the Western Black Sea Region and highlight the importance of these products for regional tourism. Research data was obtained from "Turkish Patent and Trademark Institution's geographical indication and traditional product name statistics" on 26 August 2021. Content analysis technique, one of the qualitative research methods, has been utilized to analyze the research data. Findings indicate that 82 products, 49 of which are food, 16 of which are handicrafts, 14 of which are agricultural products and 3 of which are others, have been registered with geographical indication in the Western Black Sea Region and 55 products are still in the geographical indication application process. On the other hand, it has been found out that the geographical indication process has recently accrued in this region, and 94.24% of the geographical indication products were registered after 2016. The research also shows that all provinces in the region have geographical indicated products, Kastamonu (24) and Bolu (21) are the provinces with the most geographical indicated products. Geographically indicated products in the region, used as advertisement and promotion tools, can contribute to the development of regional and rural tourism, and the inclusion of geographically indicated products in the tour program will lead into tourists spending more time in the region and more money.
Keywords
Tourism, Geographical Indication, Local Product, Western Black Sea Region.
