Abstract
An Investigation towards the Metaphoric Perceptions of Tourism Faculty Students Regarding Youth Tourism
Today, young people create an important potential for the tourism sector, in which people of all ages and profiles participate. Young people and students contribute to the development of the tourism sector because they have enough free time and the number of educational trips has increased in recent years. The increasing importance of youth tourism makes it necessary to understand the perceptions of university students, who create great potential in this type of tourism. The aim of this study is to determine the metaphorical perceptions of the tourism faculty students regarding the concept of youth tourism and to explain these perceptions. Data were collected from 152 students who were actively continuing their education by using interviews, one of the qualitative data collection techniques. Data were analyzed using MAXQDA qualitative data analysis software. As a result of the analysis, the most frequently expressed metaphors were determined as entertainment, freedom, adventure, and sociability. In the findings, it is seen that the entertainment metaphor is used more frequently by the 1st and 2nd -year students of both tourism management and tourism guidance departments. I
Keywords
Tourism Sector, Youth Tourism, Faculty of Tourism Students, Metaphor Analysis
