Metaphorical perceptions of tourist guides on the intangible cultural heritage items of Trabzon

Abstract

This study aims to determine the perceptions of tourist guides about the intangible cultural heritage items of Trabzon province through metaphors. Accordingly, it is aimed to emphasize the richness of the cultural heritage of Trabzon province, to determine how the intangible cultural heritage items are evaluated by tourist guides through metaphors, and to reveal the importance of turning this heritage into an additional touristic value by being well known and conveyed by tourist guides. With the awareness to be created in this regard, it is considered important to protect the local intangible cultural heritage items, to transfer them to future generations, and to ensure that these items are given more space in the services offered to tourists in Trabzon. In this direction, the sample of the research consists of active tourist guides registered with the Trabzon Regional Chamber of Tourist Guides. In this study, in which tourist guides’ perceptions of intangible cultural heritage items were examined through metaphor analysis, phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The semi-structured questionnaire form prepared to provide data for the study was applied online to active tourist guides between May and June 2023. The research data were evaluated by the content analysis technique. Findings were presented with percentage and frequency values. In the study, among the 188 different metaphors produced by the participants for the intangible cultural heritage items of Trabzon province, “Wicker weaving” was found to be the item that produced the most metaphors with twenty different metaphors, while “Hamsiköy Rice Pudding” was the least with six different metaphors. As a result of the content analysis, the themes of “Metaphors Related to Tradition”, “Metaphors Related to Sensory Perception”, “Metaphors Related to Economy” and “Metaphors Related to Emotion” emerged. In only four of the fifteen intangible heritage items, “Metaphors Related to Economy” were produced in “Sürmene Knifery”, “Wicker Weaving”, “Filigree” and “Kazaziye”. It is predicted that this research will contribute to the literature on intangible cultural heritage with the metaphor analysis method, which has important advantages in terms of providing permanent and qualified learning of a concept or phenomenon.