Gastronomy and beverages as key resources of a nation’s destination image potential

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ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of a nation’s gastronomy and beverage resources and associated strategies to enhance its destination potential. Considering the notions of the resource-based view (RBV), the viewpoints of 492 restaurant leaders were gathered through an online questionnaire in Vietnam, a nation featuring a burgeoning food, beverage and hospitality industry. The applied qualitative content analysis and data structure helped craft 16 conceptual dimensions. Among these, ‘imaginative gastronomy’ stresses the development of competitive consumption-based attributes, while ‘implicit charm’ highlights resources representing expressions of distinctiveness and rareness. The ‘tangible applications’ dimension emphasises capitalising on food and beverages’ potential through hands-on activities, while ‘conveying narratives’ underscores products’ appealing attributes, for instance, based on promotion and storytelling. A proposed conceptual framework illuminates relationships between the RBV and the developed dimensions, extends this framework in a hospitality and tourism context, and discusses practical and theoretical implications.