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After the introduction of functional food term in 1980s, production and marketing of functional food in Japan, USA and European markets has developed rapidly. Compared to these developed countries, the market size of the functional food in Turkey is very limited. The purpose of this study is to explore reasons of limited development and marketing strategies regarding the size of expenditure, governmental legislation and consumer preferences and highlight the type of functional food products available at large retail chains of important suppliers in Turkey.

Description and exploration of market size and expenditure were determined by using Euromonitor International (2017). The factors influencing consumption and attitudes toward functional food purchasing were evaluated by studying literature research. The number and types of functional foods in the most important supermarket chains were determined to show the growth rate in Turkey. Products in the markets were determined based on the direct observation available, and functional foods sold in the markets were noted at the visits and tabulated. The type of functional food product, its category, the main benefit offer to the consumer and the brand and status of the food processing industry (national or not) were identified. Government legislation on special health claims for functional foods was stated.

Market size of Turkey per capita expenditure was approximately US$5.8m, which was very low, whereas that of Japan and USA was US$86.7m and 100.2m, respectively, in 2017. The variety of functional food products was at a very low level, and functional food market share was limited compared to powerful countries like Turkey. International companies had a higher market share than national companies. Danone with dairy functional foods was the biggest company in Turkey market. Literature studies showed that Turkish people have less knowledge about functional foods and need education. According to reviews, socio-demographic characteristics such as age, education, income levels, gender and prices were important indicators influence consumer awareness and consumption of functional foods. Consumer’s knowledge must be increased with their health benefits by education. Reviews showed that nearly 60 per cent of people did not have any information about functional food and women were more aware and the most active user group. Dairy products were the most preferred functional foods in Turkey. Because of limited awareness, there is a need for elucidating studies that are targeting potential consumers. Turkey did not have labeling system to claim foods functionality on packages and did not permit foods that contribute to health maintenance and/or recovery from disease, but Republic of Turkey Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock applies some laws and regulations.

This study provides market study and detailed research about marketing strategies and legislation of functional foods in Turkey. People have high demand to consume and there are big potentials of functional food marketing and opportunities for food industries. But to increase consumption and marketing size, it needs education of consumer, advertising and some adjustment of legislation by government.

Contemporary changes have occurred in country-level policies and tourists’ intentions in recent years. The role of maintaining a country’s image is trendy in crisis control but has not yet been discussed in domestic tourism research. Extending the Stimulus Organism Response model, this study aims to focus on “trustable WOM creation” in China. In addition, it aimed to discover how behavioral changes encourage domestic tourism intention (DTI).

This study explored the mediating role of DTI and the moderating role of maintenance of country image (MCI) for trustable word of mouth (WOM) creation. Using the snowball sampling technique, a structural equation modeling analysis (Smart PLS-4) was employed to analyze the data of 487 Chinese tourists.

Findings confirm that behavioral changes positively encourage domestic tourism and discourage international tourism, with significant negative moderation by MCI. MCI has an insignificant positive moderating effect between government-media trust and DTI. Furthermore, DTI positively and directly affects the creation of trustable WOM. In addition, it had a 20% mediation effect (VAF%) between behavioral changes and WOM creation, higher than the rejected mediation effect (12%), in the causal relationship between government-media trust and WOM creation.

WOM creation varies from different behavioral changes, but findings suggest that government-media trust and DTI influenced it significantly. Based on the study findings, the government and media can enhance domestic tourism by maintaining the country’s image. These findings both encourage and control the recovery of tourism.

This study provides a theoretical explanation for tourists' behavioral changes during the pandemic. Moreover, it shows that despite avoiding international tourism due to behavioral changes and government-media trust, MCI moderation with the mediation effect of DTI can create trustable WOM. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to theoretically promote tourism through DTI-induced psychology as a mediator and an organism affect prevailing among Chinese tourists.