Middle East Tourists' Behaviour Towards Malaysian Gastronomy and Dining Experience in Malaysia

Abstract

The global Muslim tourists' expenditure on gastronomy products is on the rise. However, to date few studies were conducted to empirically determine the behaviour of the Muslim tourists' especially from the Middle East countries towards Malaysian gastronomy. Therefore, the key purpose of the present study was to empirically determine the Middle East tourists' behaviour towards their dining experience in Malaysia by employing the basis of means-end model approach. The proposed conceptual model of this study was tested using structural equation modelling analysis. The findings revealed that gastronomy attributes, dining quality and overall satisfaction of dining experience were significant positive predictors of the Middle East tourists' behavioural intention. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed and this paper ends with some suggestions for future research.

Tourist behavioral loyalty: a comparison of first-time and repeat tourist in the UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) in Malaysia

“…Numerous academic research has been documented on the connection between food and tourism in Malaysia (e.g. Hendijani & Boo, 2014;Leong et al, 2017;Omar & Omar, 2018). The capital cities of both Malacca and Penang -Melaka and George Town -likewise, received much attention from academic scholars (e.g.…”