PERCEPTIONS OF FOREIGN INVESTORS ON THE TOURISM MARKET IN CENTRAL ASIA - Tourism in Central Asia: Cultural Potential and Challenges - page 325

with a b coefficient of 0.354 (p -.004) exerted positive effects and the
variable of investment conditions for sustainability with a b coefficient
of -.310 (p - 0.036) exerted a negative effect, on the overall evaluation
of the investment conditions in Uzbekistan. The significant and impor-
tant variables for the Turkmenistan model were workforce conditions
(b - 0.573; p - 0.00), attractive investment cost (b - 0.240; p - 0.078),
and general investment conditions (b - 0.371; p - 0.028). The first two
variables had a positive relation with overall investment evaluation and
the last variable—general investment conditions—had a negative rela-
tion with overall investment evaluation.
CONCLUSION
This particular study attempted to examine Turkish investors' percep-
tions of general investment, tourism specific investment, tourism sus-
tainability investment consideration factors in the four selected Central
Asian countries. More specifically, this particular study is one of the
first attempts to understand how Turkish companies perceive invest-
ment conditions and investment process using a conceptual framework of
market entry opportunities in the CA countries. The study also generated
information on the prediction level of the overall perceived investment
condition in each of the four CA countries as a result of the perceived
evaluation of three investment consideration factors.
The results indicated that the delineated three-factor groupings of
general investment conditions explained almost 65% of the variance, two
factor groupings of tourism specific investment conditions explained al-
most 67% of the variance, and two factor groupings of tourism sus-
tainability investment conditions explained almost 62% of the variance
in investment consideration variables. Combined, these three types of
investment conditions predicted 0.335% of the perceived overall in-
vestment condition in Turkmenistan, 0.448% in Kazakhstan, 0.456%
in Kyrgyzstan, and 0.458% in Uzbekistan, suggesting that these in-
vestment conditions are reasonably robust and represent a majority of
market entry (investment into a new place) barriers and considerations.
It is also observed, from the findings of the regression models for
each country, that the significance and relative importance of the de-
lineated factor groupings of investment conditions show variation from