An Evaluation of the Influences on Consumption of Local Food in Tourist Destinations.

The important role of local food in tourist destinations has begun to form an academic debate in the last decade. However, extant studies, examining key factors influencing local food consumption, are still at an early stage. Given the scarcity of research on tourist consumption of local food, the main purpose of the current research was to gain a deeper insight into tourist experiences of local food and to identify the key factors influencing consumption of local foods. Also, this study attempted to link both tourism and food research relating to the research objectives. The study used both a qualitative approach and a quantitative survey. The results of the interviews provided an in-depth understanding of important factors influencing local food consumption. This interview identified three key factors, which were motivations, food-related personality traits, and demographic factors. Quantitative methods involved the development and validation of an instrument to measure dimensions identified in the qualitative phase and to establish factors influencing local food consumption in destinations. A total of 751 usable responses were obtained in South Korea (n=269), Spain (n=246), and the U.K. (n=236) for the main survey. The main survey resulted in several significant findings. Firstly, the final scale consisted of five factors with 24 indicators, and the reliability and validity of the scale were identified (‘cultural experience’; interpersonal relationship; excitement; sensory appeal; and health concern). Secondly, food-related personality traits were found to be one of the key factors affecting local food consumption (food neophobia and food involvement). Thirdly, demographic factors were identified as influences (gender, age, and income). Lastly, the relationship among motivations, food-related personality traits, and demographic variables was identified. The major contribution of this research is that it not only suggests key factors influencing local food consumption at a tourist destination, derived from existing research on tourism and food research, but also provides a validated measure of tourist motivations to eat local foods, which could be further examined in future research into such combined research fields