Investigation of the Effect of Turkish Tv Series Watched by Arab Tourists on their Preference for Visiting Turkey

Abstract

Turkish TV series are broadcast in many continents from the Middle East to the Balkans, Africa to Central Asia, the Far East and South America, and are watched by 700 million people in about 156 countries. In this respect, TV series have become one of the effective soft power tools of Turkey in different parts of the world. The adventure of Turkish TV series to conquer the world is an important issue that increases the material and moral gains of Turkey day by day, and thus they should be prioritized. In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of the Arab people’s attitude towards Turkish series and their perception of the image of the Turkey on their preference for visiting Turkey. It is a known fact that TV series and movies have the power to direct the society and create awareness. In the current study, Turkey was evaluated as a rising soft power that can play an active role in the regional and global arena through its various soft power sources such as its culture, values, foreign policy and economic success, and the effects of Turkish TV series on Arab people and especially the effects of their attitudes towards the TV series and perceptions of the image of the country on their preference for visiting the country were aimed to be examined. To this end, a survey was conducted on 500 Arabs who came to Turkey for touristic purposes. As a result of the analyses, a statistically significant positive relationship was determined between the attitudes towards Turkish TV series and Turkey’s image and the effect of Turkish TV series on the participants’ preference for visiting Turkey. In addition, Arab tourists’ attitudes towards TV series and their perception of the image of Turkey were found to be varying significantly depending on some demographics.