Food consumption experiences: a framework for understanding food tourists’ behavioral intentions

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to develop a framework to identify the drivers underpinning food tourists' behavioral intentions (BIs). This framework centers on examining how local food consumption value (TLFCV), local food experiential value (TLFEV) and social media influencers (SMIs) impact upon tourists’ attitudes toward local food (ATLF) and food destination image (FDI). The impact of ATLF and FDI on tourists’ BIs is also examined. Design/methodology/approach PLS-SEM was used to test the hypothesized relationships using survey responses from 379 tourists visiting Rasht, Iran. Findings The results demonstrate that TLFCV, TLFEV and SMIs can be used to populate a theoretical framework for predicting and understanding the factors influencing tourists’ ATLF and FDI. Specifically, positive ATLF and FDI stimulated positive BIs (e.g., intending to recommend Iranian food to others and intending to revisit Iran in future for culinary tourism purposes). Practical implications The findings provide managers and practitioners within the culinary tourism industry with suggestions for how best to strategically market their offerings to increase inbound food tourism. Originality/value This study is one of the first to empirically evaluate the drivers of food tourists' BIs, presenting a newly developed model for deployment in future research. Originality is also established by simultaneously investigating TLFCV and TLFEV within the context of food tourism.

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Searching memories of pleasures in local cuisine: how nostalgia and hedonic values affect tourists' behavior at hot spring destinations?

“…Behavioral intentions are consumers' expression of their desire to satisfy their needs, such as evaluation of their experiences with a product or service (Choi et al, 2015;Schiffman and Kanuk, 1991) and often used as an effective indicator to predict their actual behaviors (Engel et al, 1995;Ryu and Jang, 2006). Tourists' behavioral intentions are primarily defined as intentions to repurchase or recommend to others (Ryu and Jang, 2006;Soltani et al, 2021;Zeithaml et al, 1996).…”