The Role of Sustainable Restaurant Practices in City Branding: The Case of Athens

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the role that restaurant practices play on tourists’ choices and specifically on city branding. It examines whether sustainability practices are considered by customers to be part of what they perceive as overall quality, leading to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat business. It examines whether sustainability practices become part of the customer experience and perceived quality, and if they could work as another key predictor of customer dining satisfaction effecting their decisions to revisit a destination. Several studies focused on sustainability practices from the restaurant owner’s perspective, but there is no study investigating the viewpoint of international tourists and consumers of common restaurants, and the influence of green practices on visiting a major European capital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research was conducted using a sample of 204 international consumers after completing meals at local restaurants in Athens. This study offers insights on the role that sustainable and green practices of restaurants play in customer satisfaction as it relates to a potential re-visit of a destination; however, it still shows a path worth investigating. Restaurateurs, tourism experts (DMO), and local government should monitor what influences the satisfaction of potential global tourists while taking their sensitivity on sustainability issues into account when shaping their branding strategy during the COVID-19 era.