Experiences With Local Food in a Mature Tourist Destination: The Importance of Consumers' Motivations

Abstract

This article investigates the role of food in the tourism experience, particularly in destinations that are not famous for their food offer and where the local gastronomy is not a primary motivation for tourist visits. Factorial analysis and cluster analysis were applied to data collected on the food preferences and dining behavior of 392 tourists staying in hotels in Madeira. Although most tourists to Madeira could not be described as "food tourists," motivations to visit the islands nevertheless overlap with motivations to eat traditional local food once they have arrived. Eating local foods may be either a "peak" experience or a "secondary" experience for tourists, but these roles are not fixed and may be reassigned. The results highlight the need for destination marketing organizations to pay more attention to the link between destination image and food consumption. Well-directed marketing efforts can turn low-value "secondary" experiences of sampling the local cuisine into more high-value "peak" experiences. The study identifies and describes three clusters of tourists based on their level of engagement with local food. Such information can assist destination stakeholders make the most of the Madeira's unique food offer. This could involve providing the right context for "secondary" food experiences to be transformed into "peak" food experiences. An improved understanding is provided of the actual and potential role of food in directly providing or indirectly supporting the tourism experience, especially in destinations where the local gastronomy is not a primary motivation to visit.