Comparative study in traditional bazaars focusing on sense-making components in order to develop tourism (Case study: Sanandaj and Sulaymaniyah Bazaar)

Traditional bazaars have been at the center of tourism attractions in the world and regardless of the passage of time and change in culture and people’s life, it has preserved its status. This paper aims to recognize the values, concepts and the inner meanings in bazaars of Kurdistan. In the case study of bazaars of Sananadaji and Asef located in Sanandaj and Qeisar-I Naqib bazaar located in Sulaymaniyah a pattern is presented to determine the main effective components on sense-making along with tourism development. For this purpose, qualitative-quantitative research methodology has been employed. In qualitative part of the research, some interviews with 16 experts have been conducted, and by applying open coding method, 105 keywords have been recognized and derived, which ends up creating a 74-question questionnaire in eight components. The questionnaire has been standardized by applying content validity and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and was distributed among people by applying Cochran sample size determination and stratified sampling, and considering the optimum allocation of 190 Persian questionnaires among the people in Sanandaj bazaar and 40 Kurdish questionnaires among people in Sulaymaniyah bazaar. The results of confirmatory factor analysis led to recognize five components; they were 38 percent of the total variance coverage. According to the results of confirmatory factor analysis, the final model based on the components was confirmed. Among those components, emotional-perceptual and technical-physical components with the highest factor loading have been recognized as the most effective components of sense-making in the aforementioned bazaars along with tourism development.