Exploring the specialization concept for identifying and segmenting special-interest tourists: a food tourism case

Food tourism has drawn much attention as a special-interest tourism product in recent years. However, despite the wide recognition of the significant role that food has been playing in tourism, inadequate research has been done so far to explore whether and how food tourists can be identified and classified for effective marketing strategy and quality service delivery. This study aimed to introduce the recreation specialization concept to the segmentation of food tourists. Using a US sample, this study explored whether ‘specialists’ exist in foodrelaed destination consumptions, and whether they differ in their food-related destination consumption behaviors and psychological attributes. The results support the notion that there is a specialization continuum in food-related destination consumption that exists among the food tourists in broad sense. This study validates the efficacy of recreation specialization framework in special-interest tourism and suggests its practical implications to destination managers for more effective destination marketing