Within the scope of the Tourism Week from April 15th to 22nd, Hasan Kalyoncu University (HKU) Faculty of Tourism organized an event titled “Digitization in Tourism and Alternative Tourism” at the HKU Cine Amphitheater.
The event, moderated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Furkan Baltacı, Vice Dean of the HKU Faculty of Tourism, featured speakers including Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dilara Bahtiyar Sarı, Director of Gaziantep University Vocational School of Tourism and Hotel Management, Acting Director of Gaziantep Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism Selçuk Korkmaz, Board Member of the Turkey Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA) and Southeastern Anatolia Region Representative Özgür Çözgener, and General Manager of Divan Gaziantep Mühlüm Şen. Faculty members, industry professionals, and students attended the event.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Furkan Baltacı stated: “Currently, there is a global and national tourism strategy focusing on alternative tourism. Emphasis is placed on values that can serve as alternatives to mainstream tourism types. Within these values, we will explore the question of ‘where can we place digitization as a strategy?'”
Following the opening speech, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dilara Bahtiyar Sarı delivered a presentation on “What is Alternative Tourism?, Types of Alternative Tourism, and VRIO Analysis.”
The panel, moderated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Furkan Baltacı, discussed topics such as festival tourism, digitization in tourism, reasons for the emergence of alternative tourism, advantages of digitization in the tourism sector, areas and steps of using digital technologies in alternative tourism, Gaziantep’s digital tourism infrastructure, and sharing knowledge and experiences on digitization and experiences with the participants.
