Published on : Thursday, July 11, 2019
As cuisine is not dependent on the natural attributes of a destination such as sun, sea and sand, food tourism can be an important tool for hospitality and tourism businesses, allowing them to attract tourists even during off-seasons.
Food as a motivation for tourism hasn’t been researched enough, especially in terms of what motivates tourists to undertake a food-related vacation. Researching this topic, Professor Barry O`Mahony of EHL Lausanne joined with Dr Diep Ngoc Su from the University of Economics, Danang, Vietnam and Professor Lester Johnson from Swinburne University of Technology, Australia to identify the internal motives of potential food tourists.
The results of their study help us understand the food travel motivation from both a tourist and destination perspectives, while it also provides practical advice for Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) and hoteliers.
There are two major categories of travel motivation: push and pull factors.
Push factors relate to internal travel motives such as rejuvenation, escaping routine, exploring new places, and relaxing.
Pull factors are destination attributes that attract tourists to choose one destination over another.
In order to further validate these factors, the research team reviewed five food travel blogs to look for articles showing motives for food travel as well their perceptions of what would attract them to a food destination.
During an online survey, data was collected from groups of foodies on Linkedin and Facebook. Each group was required to have a minimum of 1,000 members and participants should have been intending to take a food tourism vacation in the near future.
Over 350 participants from diverse backgrounds completed the survey. Nearly half were aged between 25 to 35 years old and the rest ranged from 36 to 65 years old. More than 90% had an undergraduate or postgraduate university degree, implying that food tourists have a high level of education. Annual income varied from low to high, indicating that income is not the main driving force for food tourism.
Tags: Food Tourism