Food Neophilia, Social Network and Emotional Incident as Factors Contributing to Destination Food Images among Tourists: A Study of Mamak Stalls in Penang

Abstract

This research investigated the element that contribute to destination food image of mamak stall in Penang. Tourists who visits Penang will not leave a chance to go to mamak stall and three factors (food neophilia, social network and emotional incident) being used in this study. The data has been collected randomly among participants with sample size of 121 aged 18 until 64 years old using an e-survey. All data is analysed through validity and regression analysis using SPSS version 29.0. The finding shows that emotional incident has the highest influence of destination food image among tourists in Penang followed by food neophilia and social network. This study is expected to create a key idea of what are the basic components of food tourism. The knowledge gained from this study may help food sellers to have a better understanding of improving their business in perspective of the destination image among tourists. From an academic perspective, this study hopes that it can fill the gap with the ‘mamak’ stall as a destination food image as it is one of the famous ethnic-based restaurants in Malaysia.