Is gastronomy a new tourism lure of Scandinavian countries? : An exploratory study on Chinese tourists

This exploratory study initially attempts to generate basic understanding regarding how do Chinese tourists evaluate the importance of Scandinavian gastronomies when holidaying the countries. And it further judge the states could whether implement gastronomical development strategy. Additionally, the study generally explores Chinese tourists’ food behavior, motivation and preference in a culturally different environment when holidaying in Scandinavian countries. The study also provides a detailed investigation regarding Chinese tourists’ food preference, behavior and motivation based upon the general food habits. The study proposes the in-depth research that describes the disparities of Chinese tourists’ dining attitude on Scandinavian gastronomies from varying social groups, such as age and gender. A structured questionnaire adopted in the study as the research tool to collect quantitative data from sampled respondents. This study addressed a number of gaps in current knowledge. Academically, it filled the gap about the relationship between the gastronomy and the destination in Scandinavian states. And this study gains a better understanding about Chinese tourists food attitude towards exotic gastronomies in particular Scandinavian’s. The difference of Chinese tourists’ gastronomies, food preference, motivations and tourists’ food behavior on food while having a trip in Scandinavian countries is specifically indicated in the study. Regarding the business, a key contribution of this study is that it also provides the understanding about Chinese tourists in culinary aspect which can help with making a feasible tourism development plan.