Airports as Tourism Destinations: A Comparison of Istanbul Ataturk’s Services with Strong Competitor Dubai International

Abstract

Industrial tourism which is depended on inclusive tours consists of several supplying sectors. Air transportation is one of the primary suppliers of industrial tourism not only because it provides one of the two main components of inclusive tour but also it is maybe the most institutional and industrial supplying sector for tourism. International hub airports on the other hand, play a shopfront role for the destinations as they represent the prestige of their countries. Considering the importance of airports as shopfronts, the main international Airport in Turkey: Istanbul, Ataturk (IA) is examined in this particular study. For this purpose, airline and airport star rating forum Skytrax’s (airlinequality.com) data is used in the study. Taking the perceptions of both airports’ passengers into consideration, the busiest and three star rated international transit airport Dubai International is compared with IA which is also three star rated and targeting to be the busiest airport of near future. The results revealed there are significant differences between the perceptions of both airports’ passengers.