Food Tourism Research Articles

Examining brand equity and tourists’ purchasing motivations towards the world's best rice ‘ST25’ for Vietnam's future sustainable food tourism destination

Until now, Vietnam is still confused about choosing a national product to represent the country and turning them into souvenirs everyone craves when traveling here. With the wide range of agricultural products, i.e., the world's best in 2019 Rice ST25, Vietnam can leverage its advantages to create a suitable must-buy item for tourists. There are two primary purposes: (1) to identify the awareness of tourists about ST25 Rice and (2) to examine the ST25 Rice in Customers’ based brand equity (CBBE) model and purchasing motivations, therefore sustaining the tourism industry in the future. The study is done with quantitative research by a sample of 243 respondents who are from different countries staying in Ho Chi Minh City. The results show that rice ST25 is acknowledged, and consumers highly rate it, and its potential to be made into national gifts and to stand firm to represent the image of Vietnam from a tourism perspective. The conclusion and recommendations can be utilized to identify other hand-made items for Vietnam’s sustainable tourism.

Perceived Risk and Food Tourism: Pursuing Sustainable Food Tourism Experiences

While food can function as a component product of tourism, there remains a need for food tourism to become more sustainable. This study sought to discover what risk dimensions tourists perceive in food tourism and to enhance understanding of what actions and coping behaviors tourists take to lower levels of perceived risk in a food tourism setting. Data were collected in March 2023 for two weeks from Chinese tourists who considered traveling to Jeju Island, South Korea. A total of 303 responses were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling to test 13 hypotheses. Results identified physical risk, communication risk, and food-related risk as concerns for tourists, and the results confirmed support for 11 of the hypotheses tested. This study has theoretical implications for supplementing insufficient prior research by examining the risk factors perceived by tourists when participating in food tourism. Practical implications from this study include ways to reduce the level of perceived risk dimensions for sustainable food tourism experiences.

Exploring the Tourism, Neuro-tourism, and Hospitality Nexus: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis

Despite the considerable attention toward tourism and hospitality, neuro-tourism remains largely unexplored within academic investigations. This study is designed to provide bibliometric analysis in tourism, neuro-tourism, and hospitality research using VOSviewer to fill the gap. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework to select relevant papers on the Scopus database between January 2009 and July 2023. Analyzing 971 papers revealed that the UK is the top country in publication (289 papers and 11,391 citations), while Italy was the lowest country on the list (42 papers and 4651 citations). Buhalis, D., was identified as the most influential author, with 18 papers and the highest-cited papers (1833 citations). Furthermore, the strongest pair authors correlation was between Okumus, F. and Rahimi, R., with 468 links, highlighting a significant degree of connection between their respective references. Keywords related to tourism, neuro-tourism, and hospitality include "halal tourism," "urban tourism," "rural tourism," "food tourism," "Islamic hospitality," "hospitality ecosystem," and "neuroscience." “International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management” was the most productive journal (96 papers and 4,312 citations). Furthermore, this journal published the most-cited paper, "An assessment of the use of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in hospitality research,” with 687 citations. This is the first study to conduct the bibliometric analysis of tourism, neuro-tourism, and hospitality research; therefore, it will lead to more publications on related subjects by directing the researchers to less studied fields such as neuro-tourism. Additionally, scholarly collaborations may improve the depth of this research.

Awakening travel intentions by food travel vlogs: far from the sky and close to the eyes

ABSTRACT Food vlogs are a new trend in destination marketing, but there is limited cognition of food tourism motivates potential consumers to travel. We used content analysis and natural language processing for the effect of food vlogs on awakening travel intentions. The results showed that life-oriented and mundane food vlogs could significantly awaken travel intentions. Meanwhile, unique food community prompted the transformation of viewers into potential foodies, triggering their travel intentions. Furthermore, food vlogs revealed that viewers expressed their opinions around six dimensions, with a sense of place and empathy at the core. Finally, the paper verified that food vlogs created a unique community circle and promoted positive destination image perceptions among viewers to awakening travel intentions.

Refining hospitality in a post-pandemic landscape: Tourist food choices through a latent class nested logit lens

In the post-pandemic landscape, scant research has been conducted on the timely, in-depth examination of how food-related attributes affect tourist food choices. To tackle this issue, this study employed a discrete choice experiment and latent class nested logit models for a nuanced exploration of tourist food preferences. This approach captured both tourists’ preference heterogeneity and substitution effects among fast, local, and hometown-style food options. Findings reveal that price, food taste rating, waiting time, service, and environment are key determinants of tourists’ food choices. Our model identified two distinct tourist classes, Local-food-image class and Anti-price-quality class, each displaying unique food preferences and substitution patterns. This research contributes to tourism and hospitality literature by offering an updated and nuanced understanding of post-pandemic tourists’ food preferences and decision-making trade-offs. It offers practical recommendations for targeted marketing and effective resource allocation, ultimately strengthening resilience and fostering sustainable development within hospitality, catering, and tourism sectors.

CULINARY CHARMS: UNRAVELLING HOW FOOD IMAGE FACTORS AFFECT TOURISTS’ SATISFACTION IN PENANG

This study aims to investigate the relationship between food image factors and tourist satisfaction in Penang, Malaysia. Penang is renowned for its rich culinary culture and diverse cuisine, making it a popular destination for food tourism. However, little is known about how food image factors impact the satisfaction of tourists who visited Penang for its culinary offerings. To address this gap, this study has collected data from a sample of tourists who have recently visited Penang and statistical analysis is used to examine the relationship between food image factors (i.e., cleanliness, taste, location, price, and food features) towards tourists’ satisfaction. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyse the data with mixed results. Limitations and recommendations are discussed to assist future researchers in improving the quality of their research in related fields.

Exploring Extension Implications for Slow Food Development in Iran: A Comprehensive Analysis

This research aimed to ascertain the prerequisites for the advancement of the slow food movement in Iran. Employing both quantitative and qualitative methods, it adopted a descriptive and survey-oriented design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 experts well-versed in the extension of slow food, employing a snowball sampling technique. The interview data underwent coding and analysis employing open coding, axial coding, and selective coding methods. The study encompassed experts and managers in agricultural extension and education across the nation. For statistical analysis, a structural equation model and confirmatory factor analysis were employed, utilizing SMART PLS 3 and SPSS 26 software. The goodness-of-fit index (GoF) was utilized to evaluate the comprehensive validity of the research model. From a qualitative perspective, six primary facets of the slow food model emerged: 1. Extension strategies in harmony with slow food principles; 2. Methods of extending the slow food movement; 3. Supportive policies for slow food propagation; 4. Intervening conditions; 5. Causal conditions (triggers and applications) of the slow food paradigm; and 6. Outcomes resulting from the adoption of the slow food ethos. These facets collectively comprised a total of 38 sub-components. Through analysis of the structural equation model, key facets with substantial operational weight and significant influence on the promotion of slow food were identified. These prominent components encompass disease prevention, the organization of festivals and exhibitions, the revision of laws, the shaping of individuals’ lifestyles, the enhancement of food tourism capacity, and the optimization of human resources.

Assessment of Intramuros Restaurant Services : Basis for Food Tourism as an Attraction of a Heritage Destination

The tourists’ desire to experience local culture and heritage makes heritage sites an important attraction in destinations. Being considered an inseparable part of cultural and heritage tourism, food is an important aspect that is beneficial for the community’s economic sustainability and the social life of tourists, visitors, and usual diners. This research aimed to determine the assessments of diners on Intramuros restaurants, on the three components of guest experience with the intent of exploring food tourism as a destination attraction to promote this heritage site. It was descriptive-exploratory research using a researcher-made questionnaire to survey the assessment of 75 diner respondents in Intramuros restaurants who were selected through a purposive sampling technique. The findings of the study suggested that the respondents were satisfied with the three components of the guest experience namely: service product, service environment, and service delivery system. The respondents’ satisfaction with restaurant services offered in the destination played a significant role in their revisit and recommendation intentions where the result related a high level of likelihood of revisit and recommendation intentions among diners. Further, it determined that the top three types of food service preferences are casual dining, fine dining, and banchetto (feast). The top recommendation among five indicators in terms of food tourism activities in Intramuros, a cultural heritage site, was to associate cultural shows with the dining experience.

Analyzing the linkages of rural tourism, GDP, energy utilization, and environment: Exploring a sustainable path for China

Rural tourism spurs economic growth and jobs but harms the Environment due to energy demands. The study accounts for energy use, globalization, and economic growth to assess and mitigate rural tourism's environmental impact. For data covering 2001Q1 to 2019Q4, GMM approaches are utilized to analyze the environmental implications of rural tourist enterprises. The findings suggest that rural tourism-related catering services increased substantial and positive overall environmental quality, except N2O. However, food and beverage services negatively influence greenhouse gas emissions and only PM2.5 in air pollution. Sightseeing hurts greenhouse gas emissions while having a positive impact on air pollution. Furthermore, traveling has a considerable negative influence on CO emissions in air pollutants. Energy use only has a substantial influence on CO2 and CO, but GDP has a negative impact on N2O emissions. Globalization has a negative impact on CO2 and air pollutants other than PM2.5. Catering services associated with rural tourism positively affect overall environmental quality, excluding N2O emissions. Rural tourism's food and beverage services harm greenhouse gas emissions (including CO2) and air pollution (particularly PM2.5). Traveling has a significant negative impact on CO emissions, but sightseeing has a dual impact, both negative on greenhouse gas emissions and positive influence on air pollution. Furthermore, shopping and leisure have little impact on overall environmental quality in China. The crucial efforts' policy ramifications are addressed as well.

The Intercultural Communication Analysis of Conversations in the Project ‘My Hanoi’ by Faculty of Tourism, Hanoi Open University

Culture is significant in the process of creating communication, and language is the key element of communication. More than ever, English and tourism have created opportunities for people from different cultures to exchange and share their cultural values directly. Therefore, intercultural communication skill is highlighted in the context of the thriving global tourism industry. When a group of 20 junior students from the Faculty of Tourism, Hanoi Open University, took two foreign guests on food tours funded by the project ‘My Hanoi’ to improve their communicative competence in English, the researchers had a great chance to observe such interesting phenomena of intercultural communication in their conversations. Those phenomena were then analyzed from the intercultural communication perspective to indicate the strengths and weaknesses of our students in communicating with people from other cultures.

A Review on Social Media as a New Venue for Promoting Culinary Destinations

Food has become an important tool for destinations to attract tourists to visit them. Food tourism has become one of the most important segments within the travel market. With the development of online information technology, social media platforms are playing an increasingly important role in tourism promotion and digital marketing. This paper reviews a selection of literature on the use of social media platforms by destinations to shape destination images and promote food tourism. It was found that with the rise in the number of social media users, social media has become a new venue for food tourism promotion. But there is still a lack of systematic research generalization and theoretical guidance on how social media platforms can shape positive food destination impressions.

A Sustainable Future for Food Tourism: Promoting the Territory through Cooking Classes

Food tourism is becoming more popular because of the growing interest of people in organic products and achieving healthier habits. This paper aims to analyze the potential of cooking classes for the planning and development of a sustainable future for food tourism. The research is based on six interviews with providers of cooking classes and six interviews with food tourists in the region of Catalonia. Results show that cooking classes contribute to the process of awarding tourism value to local products and recipes, creating and authentic and educational experience. This engages producers and consumers in a sustainable, and regenerative experience, that appreciates local people, places and practices. Cooking classes are activities that can create a tourism attraction factor, and consequently, allow locals and visitors to know the culture of the country they visit from a unique point of view, which this paper analyses from both perspectives.

ATTRACTING TOURISTS WITH LOCAL FOOD A CASE STUDY ON BELLARY CITY

Utilizing local food to enhance tourism involves incorporating regional cuisine into marketing strategies to attract tourists and create authentic travel experiences. Local dishes not only provide sustenance but also reflect the cultural heritage and flavors of specific region. By organizing food – themed tourists with unique culinary experiences and encourage exploration of local markets, restaurants, and farms. This approach promotes sustainable tourism by reducing carbon footprints, supporting local economies, and preserving traditional food production methods. Collaboration among tourism boards, local businesses, farmers, and chefs, as well as infrastructure development, are crucial for successful implementation. Overall, leveraging local food as a tourism asset offers numerous benefits, including memorable experiences, sustainability, and economic growth. Key words: Culinary tourism, Local cuisine, Gastronomic heritage, Food tourism, authentic flavors, Traditional recipes, Food tours.

Food Tourism in the Egyptian Hotels: Drivers, Perceived Benefits, Barriers, and Adoption Intention

Food Tourism in the Egyptian Hotels: Drivers, Perceived Benefits, Barriers, and Adoption Intention

The Management Perception toward the Concept and Challenges Faces the Food Tourism at Luxor and Aswan Hotels

The Management Perception toward the Concept and Challenges Faces the Food Tourism at Luxor and Aswan Hotels

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

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.

Companion Skills for Local Food Tourism Village Facilitators to Improve the Family Economy of Ngemplak Dusun, Sumber Suko Village, Wagir District, Malang

Ngemplak Hamlet is one of the hamlets in Sumbersuko village in Wagir District, especially located on the slopes of Mount Kawi. Wagir District is located between the slopes of Mount Kawi. This hamlet is one of the hamlets in Sumbersuko village that has physical potential in terms of abundant natural resources, especially in the food sector. The people of Ngemplak Hamlet are able to make various food preparations that come from local food ingredients. Nowadays, tourists are starting to like tourist attractions that not only provide natural beauty but also community interaction. The local food village tourism facilitator has the role of providing information to tourists about the local culinary specialties that exist and the typical dishes of the people in Sumbersuko Village that are served to tourists. The concept of local food tourism villages will indirectly require the community, especially village youth, to act as facilitators of local food. However, the lack of information regarding the potential of villages in Ngemplak hamlet by the community, especially teenagers, especially regarding local food, is one of the obstacles when tourists come to their area. There is a need for assistance to prepare teenagers in Ngemplak Hamlet to be trained to increase their knowledge and skills as local food facilitators, which can be an added value for visiting tourists. The objectives of community service are as follows: (1) Empowering teenagers as facilitators of local food tourism villages in increasing their knowledge and skills in processing local food in Ngempalk Village Hamlet; (2) Provide assistance to the management and members of the local food tourism village in Ngemplak Hamlet, Sumbersuko Village in introducing the tourism village through social media; (3) Provide assistance to local food education tourism village administrators in managing the tourism village so that it can run and survive as one of the tourist village destinations in Malang Regency.

Triadic spatial distance and social media assets for food tourists

ABSTRACT This paper examines the potential impact of the triadic social interaction instigated by spatial distance between author, reader, and business that detects tourists’ geographical decision patterns. A social media asset for brands is a digital presence that encourages positive consumer responses in media communication. Using 2,129 items of author-reader-business paired review data, the findings indicate that geographical proximity between the review triad has assimilated patterns to assess reviews. Spatial regression analysis visualized spatial heterogeneity across US regions, showing that a lower spatial distance between tourists and businesses positively improved media assets; in contrast, close spatial proximity had a strong impact among peer tourists. As spatially heterogeneous tourists positively accept media sharing toward the business, the review triad model imposes the varying effects of triadic spatial distance that helps tourism policymakers implement an effective location-based social media marketing strategy for the food tourism industry.

Planning and Promoting an Authentic Slow Food Tourism Corridor in a Suburban Town in the US

Interest in slow tourism is surging as consumers seek immersive experiences and self-enrichment. Only a handful of studies have examined this phenomenon minutely from an authenticity standpoint. To fill this vacuum, by employing a case study technique, this study examines the manner in which authenticity is promoted and showcased in a broad range of iconic food venues in the suburban town of Gilbert (Arizona, USA). Content analysis of the signature websites of fourteen iconic food venues is conducted in addition to an online survey of the venue managers. Based on the results, this study presents a roadmap for developing and promoting a slow food tourism corridor for Gilbert.

The Success of a Food Tourism Destination: A Systematic Review

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) of food tourism destinations and analyse their importance for the development of destination tourism. Design/methodology/approach: We conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) to identify prevalent CSFs in food tourism destinations. Out of 210 articles related to food tourism destinations, 41 underwent a rigorous selection process for analysis. The chosen articles were examined comprehensively to provide a replicable overview of the subject. Findings: The five most popular factors were: marketing, food quality, food product, cultural identity and visitor experience. It was also found that more studies were conducted on the supply side, while fewer studies were conducted on the demand and supply side. There was a significant difference between the CSFs of supply and demand side statistics separately. Research Practical & Social implications: This comprehensive review of CSFs in food tourism destinations offers a valuable contribution to the field. It encompasses insights into publication patterns, temporal distribution, research methodologies, and the identification of prevalent success factors. This knowledge helps researchers position their work, identify gaps, and align their research for maximum impact. Ultimately, it fosters efficient and productive future research, facilitating meaningful advancements in food tourism. Originality/value: The study clarifies what are the most popular venues for successful food tourism destinations for publishing research. How research on CSFs in food tourism destinations is distributed over time and what the geographical distribution of research looks like. And what are the most popular CSFs for food tourism destinations.