How to Design an Authentic and Memorable Experience? A Content Analysis of Cooking Class Advertisements on Online Platforms

Abstract

Cooking classes are important experiential tourism products that enable tourists to actively
participate in the food preparation process, allowing them to directly experience local culture and enjoy unforgettable gastronomic experiences. For this reason, it is important to evaluate these memorable experiences not only based on post-experience satisfaction levels but also on the content and design elements of the advertisements, which serve as the first point of contact with the experience. The aim of this study is to examine cooking class advertisements organized in Türkiye and offered for sale on digital experience platforms from an experience design perspective, thereby identifying their successful aspects and areas for improvement. To this end, 47 advertisements accessed via the “Cooking classes, Türkiye” search query on the
GetYourGuide platform were analyzed under 3 main and 10 sub-themes using case study and
content analysis methods. The findings indicate that the courses are offered in a limited number of cities, that the content is easily marketable, highly focused on practical application and technique, and reflects Turkish culinary culture to a limited extent. Furthermore, the low number of reviews despite high satisfaction scores suggests that demand on digital platforms has not yet reached a strong level.