Exploring People's Motivations For Choosing Ethnic Restaurants, and Its Influence On Intention to Visit The Origin Country.

Ethnic food has grown quickly in the market, and it is one of the major trends in the restaurant industry. Ethnic food is also often used as a way to promote national cultures for the purpose of boosting the tourism industry, due to its characteristic of representing a region and/or culture. Marketing strategies using ethnic cuisine have included supporting and creating overseas restaurants serving ethnic cuisines. However, there has been little study on why people choose to go to ethnic restaurants over other kinds of restaurants and how this choice is related to travel motivations. This study adopted pragmatists’ approach using a mixed method, consisting of a qualitative stage (two stages of semi-structured interviews), and a quantitative stage (questionnaire survey). After the qualitative stage, seven motivational factors for visiting ethnic restaurants and five common motivational factors for visiting ethnic restaurants and travelling were identified, as well as the relationships between ethnic restaurants and tourism. The quantitative method involved the development and validation of the motivational factors identified in the qualitative stage. Also, using South Korea as a case study, quantitative stage empirically tested the influence of ethnic restaurant experiences on the intention to travel, based on 313 usable responses. The findings of the quantitative stage resulted in several significant findings. Firstly, this stage uncovered five underlying dimensions of the motivational factors: (1) Novelty, Learning and Culture, (2) General Restaurant Attributes, (3) Sensory Appeal, (4) Health Concern, and (5) Change and Escape. Also, seventeen-item final scale was developed and confirmed. Secondly, this stage empirically identified relationships between tourism and ethnic restaurant experiences which indicated that they not only share common motivational factors but also influence each other. Using an extended Theory of Planned Behaviour model with additional variables, this study also revealed that food-related personality can affect the intention to travel to Korea. The major contribution of this research is that this study is the first step in exploring relationships between ethnic restaurant experiences and tourism, both theoretically and empirically. The study also provides a motivational scale related to visiting ethnic restaurants, which have unique characteristics compared to other kinds of restaurants. This contribution adds to the body of literature about ethnic restaurants and tourism. By identifying these motivations and relationships, this study contributes to both academic research and to practitioners in marketing ethnic restaurants and tourist destinations through ethnic cuisine