Food tourism value: Investigating the factors that influence tourists to revisit

Abstract

Food consumption is an important notion in the hospitality literature. Although its role in gaining visitors’ satisfactory travel experience and in affecting tourists’ experiences of a destination is acknowledged, the impact of travelers’ local food consumption value on tourist behavior remains an underdeveloped topic. This study investigated the effect of tourists’ local food consumption value on their future behaviors by focusing on their destination food image and their attitudes toward local food. The data were collected from 891 tourists in Shiraz, Iran, through a survey-based method using structured questionnaires. Partial least square structural equation modeling was used to test the model proposed. Results indicated that taste/quality value, health value, price value, emotional value, and prestige value left a positive effect on tourist’ attitude toward local food. While destination food image did not influence the intention to visit the destination for food tourism, it positively affected the intention to recommend local food. The observations revealed marketing strategies substantially explored in the study.

The influence of neophobia and enduring food involvement on travelers' perceptions of wellbeing—Evidence from international visitors to Iran

“…Within the last few decades, in spite of the wide range of diverse and unique cultural and natural attractions, the Iranian tourism industry has been continuously facing significant challenges (Seyfi & Hall, 2018). In particular, while previous food tourism research highlights the potential of Iranian cuisine as a major influence on tourists' experiences (Rousta & Jamshidi, 2019; Torabi Farsani, Zeinali, & Moaiednia, 2018), so far the Iranian tourism industry has had little progress in the widespread development and marketing of food‐tourism products (Sayadabdi & Hassibi, 2018; Torabi Farsani et al, 2018). Nevertheless, Iran presents distinctive and attractive food attractions to international and domestic visitors.…”

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

“…TCV assumes that consumer preferences are affected by multiple pre-consumption cues, namely the potential functional, emotional, social, or epistemic value a product or service is perceived as holding. The prominence of each source of value is contingent upon the consumption situation (Rousta and Jamshidi, 2020). For example, while functional value has traditionally been considered the major factor shaping consumer decisionmaking (Williams and Soutar, 2009) it nevertheless includes a range of characteristics (e.g., quality, price, usefulness) (Perrea et al, 2015).…”

“…Rasht boasts significant food diversity when compared to other cities in Iran and is the only Iranian city recognized by UNESCO (2015) as a creative food city, with this designation attracting food tourists in significant numbers (Mehrabadi et al, 2017). Further, Rasht is known for various different types of local food products, each well-known enough to influence tourist decisionmaking and behaviors (Rousta and Jamshidi, 2020). As such, the city has the potential to draw upon its culinary heritage for promotion purposes; opening the door for significant sustainable tourism development and the associated economic boon in the process (MacKenzie & .…”

Mobile hotel reservations and customer behavior: Channel familiarity and channel type

“…Value has been conceptualized as what people get for what they give, such as a trade-off between the perceived gains and the sacrifices (Zeithaml, 1988). Many studies have revealed consumer value as an underlying determinant for consequent variables, such as affective responses, which include attitude and satisfaction, and consumption behaviors across the settings (Bilgihan and Bujisic, 2015; Chua et al, 2019; Kim et al, 2017b, 2019; Lee and Kim, 2018; Rousta and Jamshidi, 2020). It is accordingly perceived as an indispensable concept to understand the consumers’ behavioral intentions with hospitality.…”