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Gastronomy Tourism

Jaka Kivelaa; John C. Crottsb

a
School of Hotel and Tourism Management. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, b Department of
Hospitality and Tourism Management, School of Business and Economics, College of Charleston,

To cite this Article Kivela, Jaka and Crotts, John C.(2006) 'Gastronomy Tourism', Journal of Culinary Science &

Technology, 4: 2, 39 55

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Gastronomy Tourism:
A Meaningful Travel Market Segment
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Jaka Kivela
John C. Crotts

ABSTRACT. The existing literature supports the view that there is a

connection between tourism and gastronomy. However, there is little
empirical evidence, to show for example, whether or not there is a gastronomy-tourism market segment. Or, does destinations gastronomy
contribute to the tourists quality of experiences while visiting the destination? And, do tourists return to the destination to resample its cuisine?
This study was undertaken in Hong Kong which, according to some is
a city-destination that offers unique and diverse gastronomy. The results
of the study provide evidence, suggesting that motivation to travel for
gastronomy reasons is a reasonably valid construct for use for market
segmentation purposes. Also, the results of the data analysis reveal that
gastronomy plays a major role in the way tourists experience the destination,
and indicate that some travellers would return to the same destination to
savour its unique gastronomy. [Article copies available for a fee from The
Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address:

Jaka Kivela is Associate Professor, School of Hotel and Tourism Management.

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
John C. Crotts is Professor and Chair, Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, School of Business and Economics, College of Charleston.
Address correspondence to: Jaka Kivela, Associate Professor, School of Hotel and
Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (E-mail: hmjack@inet.
polyu.edu.hk).
This research project was funded in part by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Project Grant Allocation G-T752 and by the Hong Kong SAR Governments Central
Earmarked Research Grant No: RGC/PolyU 5241/00H/ (B-Q397).
Journal of Culinary Science & Technology, Vol. 4(2/3) 2005
Available online at http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JCST
2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1300/J385v04n02_03

39

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JOURNAL OF CULINARY SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

<docdelivery@haworthpress.com> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com>
2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]

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KEYWORDS. Gastronomy, tourism, market segment, Hong Kong

INTRODUCTION
Ecotourists, adventure tourists, cultural tourists, and short get-away
tourists are examples of tourism market segments that have been
coined to help describe visitors and the primary type of attraction(s)
that are emphasised in destination. The importance of these classifications is that they begin to define meaningful segments in a destinations existing and potential visitor markets as a part of their
segmentation-targeting- positioning process. Market segmentation is
a strategic management tool aiding in well-informed decision-making
(Swinyard, 1977) designed to answer the following questions. Who
are the customers and where do they live? The answer to these questions is ones market segment or niche. Which segments offer the
greatest return on investment? The answer to this question is ones target markets. Why do they buy the product or service? The answer to
this question is ones competitive advantage (Dobbins and Pettman,
1998). Each segment is generally considered to have unique interests,
needs, expectations, and often socio-demographics characteristics
that can be focused on in promotional campaigns and tourism product
development.
The significance of this research is twofold. One, if gastronomy
tourists can be shown to satisfy all the conventional requirements of a
unique market segment, it becomes a viable alternative for new destinations that cannot benefit from sun, sea, and sand, or natural or cultural
resources, or a valid addition to more established destinations. Unlike
many other travel activities and attractions, destinations gastronomy
is usually available year-round, any time of day and in any weather
Richards (2002). And two, gastronomy if viable could become the driving force behind the revival of tourism for destinations that are struggling
at critical stage of the tourist product lifecycle. With this said, evidence
is needed to justify such claims that sufficient tourism demand can be
generated from a destinations gastronomy resources.

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BACKGROUND
Gunn (1993) and recently Tribe (2005) set forth models that for many
researchers conceptualise how tourism works at the destination level in
terms of its demand and supply characteristics, and according to these
authors, tourisms success is dependent on the destinations ability to
create and manage both demand and supply. Supply, according to Tribe
(2005), is composed of four sectors: transportation, attractions, hospitality services, and information and promotions. The attractions sector
is the component of a tourism economy that activates a tourism system;
they are the magnets that entice a person to select and travel to a particular
destination over its competing alternative. They often take the form of
convention centres, beaches, natural-scenic parks, amusement parks
and the like. Historically, the hospitality sector, such as food and beverage
and accommodation, have served in a supporting role in the tourism
economy in that they were not normally considered strong enough
attractions to bring tourists to a destination. In this context, foodservice
researchers, for example, Hjalager (2002, 2003), Fields (2001), Richards (2002), and Scarpato (2002) argue differently and have convincingly proposed that an increasing number of tourist destinations have
become very sought-after because of their unique gastronomy. According
to these researchers, these destinations have become the foodie holiday destinations, for example, Tuscany and Lyons in France, where
food has become the central marketing feature of the tourist attraction
(see also Intrepid Travel, 2004).
GASTRONOMY
The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines gastronomy as the art of selecting, preparing, serving, and enjoying fine food. The classical definition of gastronomy is that it is the study of good eating, (see seminal
work by J.A. Brillat-Savarin [1826]. Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante. English translation by Fayette
Robinson (2004), The Physiology of Taste or Transcendental Gastronomy), and is a corpus of knowledge with its roots in all major classical
studies. Culinaria is a term which is often used synonymously with
gastronomy, and it describes a countrys or regions dishes, foods, and
food preparation techniques, which give rise to the countrys or regions
distinctive cuisine. Hence, Culinary Tourism, was a term first suggested
by Long (2003) in 1998, to expresses the idea of tourists experiencing

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other cultures through food. Wolf (2002) however, defined culinary

and/or gastronomy tourism as travelling for the purpose of exploring
and enjoying the destinations food and beverage and to savour unique
and memorable gastronomy experiences. This definition finds support
in an earlier research by Finkelstein (1989), Johns and Clarke (2001),
and Kivela and Johns (2002) who suggest that feelings and memories
make dining out when on holiday, very special and attractive, because
these become transposed into experiences that are often very personal
(Finkelstein, 1989). In this context, one of the key functions of the destinations foodservice industries is the provision of those experiences and
feelings that individuals believe they should be having while on holiday
or while travelling.
It is normal that we should experience pleasure as an essential part of
a holiday experience, and dining out should be a pleasurable and memorable part of that experience. So much in fact, that gastronomy has
played a pivotal role in the marketing of some tourist destinations. For
example, some travel organisations (Intrepid Travel, 2004) regularly offer gourmet or gastronomy holidays to Asia, Italy, and France; holidays
with cooking classes in Tuscany and Provence; Melbourne and Sydney
in Australia are often marketed as the food and wine, and restaurant
destinations. In this context, the Australian Tourist CommissionATC
was one of the first destination marketing organisations to make a commitment to gastronomy tourism as a matter of national tourism policy
and planning. For tourists, this means that the destinations restaurants
ambience and cuisine are legitimate attractions and sources of pleasure
which generates emotions and experiences, hopefully pleasant ones,
that they are supposed to be having while on holiday. It must be said
however, such pleasure does not always have an enduring effect and
that it does diminish over time. Also, while tourists often dine out in
search of new taste and culinary experiences, they also encounter disappointment from time to time: an eatery that is a parody of the destinations image, or what Finkelstein (1989) calls the manufactured
images. Nevertheless, the review of current literature suggests that a
number of tourist destinations are very sought-after because of their
unique gastronomy. For these destinations, gastronomy is a central
feature of the tourist attraction. Lifestyle and travel media also vigorously promote gastronomy, for example, magazines such as the
Epicure and Australian Gourmet Traveller. Therefore, it is plausible
to suggest that the relationship between gastronomy and that of the destination is symbiotic because the destination provides the food, recipes,
chefs, and the cultural backdrop that makes gastronomy an ideal product

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for tourist consumption. In simple terms, gastronomy is an inextricable

part the holiday experience.
Based on Cohens (1984) phenomenological categorisation of tourist
lifestyles, Hjalager (2003) offers a phenomenological model of culinary
tourism experiences. The model of gastronomy-tourism lifestyles depicts tourist attitudes and preferences for food and eating according to
four categorisations: (1) recreational; (2) existential; (3) diversionary;
and (4) experimental gastronomy tourists. The following section discusses the gastronomy tourism experience in the context of Hjalagers
model and highlights the variations in the tourists food-related behaviour.
The existential gastronomy tourists seek food combinations and eating
experiences that foster learning (about gastronomy). For these tourists
food consumption and drinking does not only satisfy hunger and thirst;
importantly for them, such consumption means gaining in-depth knowledge about the local or regional cuisine and of the destinations culture.
The existential gastronomy tourists are unlikely to be found in typical
tourist-restaurants or crowded chain or popular restaurants. For these
tourists, the holidays success is measured by that special restaurant
where only the locals eat. These tourists actively seek simple and
unsophisticated peasant food which is prepared with care and respect to
tradition; for example, Portugal offers some great gastronomy retreats
which attract the existential gastronomy tourist. The existentialist culinary
tourists avoid expensive restaurants, not only because of the price, but
also because of the extravagant dcor and service which is often offered
in these establishments, that according to Finkelstein (1989), is a manufactured dining-out environment.
The existential gastronomy tourist will actively seek and visit working
farms, participate in cooking classes, and harvesting of fruits, vegetables and wines; they will visit cheese and wine makers, and go fishing
with professional fishermen. They are especially prone to sampling
and buying the produce to take home with them. The Internet and
specialised travel literature are the main sources of knowledge about
gastronomy opportunities; the existentialist gastronomy tourists pay
little attention to travel-agency adverts and the claims made in destination
brochures.
On the other end of the spectrum, the experimental gastronomy
tourists symbolise their lifestyle through foodusually vis--vis trendy
and in foods. These tourists will actively seek the destinations smartest
designer cafes and restaurants that serve innovative menus and offer
equally chic service. The experimental gastronomy tourists keep up-

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to-date about fashionable foods, ingredients, and recipes. They actively

pursue trying out new ingredients and new ways of eating and preparing
food. Yesterdays food trends are quickly replaced by todays food
fashions. Food styles and cuisines often form a part of their image and
prestige and while they do not necessarily cook themselves, they are
well informed by reading stylish lifestyle and epicurean magazines. In
this context, Gillespie (2002:5) suggested that gastronomy is about the
recognition of a variety of factors relevant to the foods and beverages
eaten and consumed by a group, in a locality, region or even a nation.
Despite the literature, very few studies exist that examine the impact of
gastronomy on tourists destination choice. A notable exception is Sheldon
and Foxs (1988) very early study of the U.S.A., Canadian, and Japanese
visitors to Hawaii as to the role of gastronomy in the destination choice
and probability to repeat visit. Revealed by their study was that 16
percent of the respondents indicated that gastronomy influenced their
decision to come to Hawaii and for nine percent, gastronomy had a
strong influence on their likelihood of repeat visit to Hawaii. In their
analysis, Japanese tourists were more likely to respond that gastronomy
had a strong influence on their choice of destinations (36.7%) compared
to Canadian (7.6%) and (5.2%) visitors from the U.S.A. In addition, 14
percent of Japanese visitors indicated that they were more likely to visit
the destination because of its gastronomy as compared to Canadian and
visitors for the U.S.A. at five percent and six percent, respectively. The
impact of Hawaiis gastronomy on these respondents decision choice
arguably constituted a unique market segment, although Sheldon and
Fox (1988) did not go as far as confirming that Hawaiis gastronomy
was the chief or primary reason for the visit.
Richards (2003:11) eloquently suggested that [f]ood organises the
tourists day. [This is because] a large proportion of most tourist experiences are spent either consuming food and drink, or deciding what and
where to consume. However, many of these experiences are taken for
granted, because we often regard eating as a necessity rather than a leisure
activity. Given that virtually all tourists dine out when travelling and
each dining opportunity is a chance to get to know local food, culture
(though food), and people, the question arises does the destinations
offer of gastronomy have the potential to generate tourism demand in
and of itself? And if so, what factors uniquely describe the unique
market segment?

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METHODOLOGY
This research used in this analysis was from a broader study that
sought to identify the dining-out perceptions of tourists visiting Hong
Kong. Hong Kong has a well-established tourism industry serving for
years as a gateway to Asia. A descriptive research design was adopted
that utilised quantitative techniques for data collection and analysis
involving the use of a survey questionnaire. The inter-relationships of
cultural awareness, motive for travelling, the destinations gastronomy
image, food quality, satisfaction, tourists revisiting intentions, and the
effects of gastronomy on these inter-relationships, were tested with a
sample of respondents using the services of one sector, namely, the
restaurant sector in Hong Kong.
A survey sample should normally represent the population, particularly when a random sampling method is used. In this instance, however, it was very difficult to apply a random sampling methodology to
disparate tourist subjects. The alternative strategy was to employ a systematic approach in selecting the subjects, and the subjects age and
gender were selected by a judgmental method. The sample size was set
at 1,200. The survey time-frame was designated over a two-month period. The survey was conducted with the assistance and cooperation of
select Hong Kong restaurants at two main tourist locationsHong Kong
Island and Kowloon.
Based on the researchers prior experience, the proposed sampling
design minimised undue inconvenience to other guests and the participating organisations. The survey was conducted at the participating
restaurant properties. The survey was randomly administered twice per
day from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., three
times per week on a continual basis over the two-month period.
Thus, over the two-month period, there were in all 24-survey days
with a daily quota sample of three (three for the 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
time slot, and three for the 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. time slot), assigned forevery interviewer. Therefore, 6 8 (8 interviewers) = 48 respondents
per survey day 24 survey days = 1,152 respondents (rounded off to
1,200).
A random number was assigned to each interviewer for each survey
day. The random number was used to select potential respondents. For
instance, a random number three indicated that every third, sixth, ninth,
etc., subject would be selected for sampling during the sampling period.
In-house training was provided for the interviewers before the actual
surveys took place. This included mini-workshops in which effective

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interview/sampling techniques were demonstrated and practised. During

the training sessions, interviewers were briefed with detailed information
on the process of conducting an interview. A pilot test was conducted
prior to actual sampling, and necessary adjustments to the instrument
were made, for example, the instrument was tested to estimate the sampling time and improve the precision, structure, and layout of questions.
A team of eight interviewers, including the researcher, undertook the
task of surveying.
The first part of instrument contained introductory notes, a screening
question and demographic data, followed by a body of questions. Potential
respondents were usually approached in the restaurants, and they had to
satisfy one screening question before they become qualified to participate
in the survey. The filtering question was whether or not the respondent
was a resident of Hong Kong. Hong Kong residents were disqualified
from the survey. The next section of the instrument was designed to
solicit demographic data such as gender, country of residence, age, education, and household income. The next section constituted the main
body of the research. The entire process was conducted in face-to-face
mode, followed by an administered questionnaire.
The reliability analysis was calculated to measure the internal consistency of each of the research instruments main item banks. The coefficients for all item banks exceeded the recommended level of 0.50 (Hair,
Anderson, and Black, 1995), ranging from 0.88 to 0.96.
In order to compare samples across perceptual and experience
dimensions or demographic grouping, appropriate comparative analyses such as ANOVA were used. Multivariate analysis (factor and regression) was also used to (1) create correlated variable composites
from the original attributes ratings, and obtain a relatively small number of variables that explain most of the variances among attributes,
and (2) apply the derived factor scores in subsequent multiple regression analysis. The appropriateness of factor analysis was assessed by
correlation, measures of sampling adequacy (MSA), partial correlation among variables, and reliability alpha to ensure that the factor
analysis was appropriate to the data. The maximum likelihood method
was also used to test the resulting model. The results of the study demonstrated how gastronomy influenced tourists perceptions of the
destination, as well as their behavioural intentions based on their experiences. Only the findings of the select analyses are presented in this
article.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

One thousand two hundred questionnaires were distributed to a
systematic sample of tourists visiting Hong Kong. Of the 1,105 returned
questionnaires (92.1 percent of 1,200), 1,067 useable questionnaires
(89 percent of 1,200) were used for the analysis. Thirty-eight questionnaires were not used for the analysis because they were more than
15 percent incomplete. The demographic characteristics of the sample
are presented in Table 1. Of particular interest is that almost 21 percent of
the sample indicated that their main reason for travelling to Hong Kong
was for the food. Given the projected tourist arrivals for Hong Kong for
the 2005 to be somewhere in the range of 14.5 million (Hong Kong
Tourism Board, 2005), this means that about 3.02 million tourists will
visit Hong Kong just to savour its gastronomy. These numbers are not
inconsequential, and a gastronomy segment representing 20.8 percent
of the total visitor market is by any measure, a significant market segment.
For Hong Kong, this represents a substantial gastronomy-tourism market
segment, and its evidence suggests that motivation to travel for gastronomy
is a reasonably valid construct to use for market segmentation purposes,
in Hong Kong at any rate.
For purpose of reliability, a series of between-group mean comparisons
were performed to determine if those 20.8 percent of respondents responded in predictable ways to the following questions. For purposes of
this analysis, respondents were limited to visitors to Hong Kong who indicated their trip was for leisure purposes (excluding business travellers,
visiting friends and relatives, and stopovers). These criteria effectively
reduced the sample to 615 respondents or 57.6 percent of the original
sample. The questions were: (1) Would you describe yourself as someone who is knowledgeable about cuisines? (2) When travelling, how
important is it for you to experience gastronomy at a destination? and
(3) Do you usually travel because you wish to experience destinations
gastronomy? Responses were recorded along a five-point scale and are
summarised in Table 2.
Respondents, on average, replied to the three-attitudinal questions in
the direction predicted. Those who indicated initially that their primary
trip purpose was to experience local food and culture were more likely
to rate their knowledge of food and cuisines higher, and the importance
of food and cuisine as more important when compared to other visitors
on vacations and holidays. The between-group differences shown in
Table 2 below, were statistically significant and in the directions

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TABLE 1. Demographic characteristics of the sample
Frequency

Percent

Male

544

51.0

Female

521

48.8

1,065

99.8

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(a) Gender

Missing
Total

0.2

1,067

100.0

(b) Age
5

.5

18-25

98

9.2

26-35

327

30.6

36-45

287

26.9

46-55

194

18.2

56-65

121

11.3

under 18

66 or above
Missing
Total

32

3.0

1,064

99.7

0.3

1,067

100.0

(c) Usual country/region of residence

China

85

8.0

Japan

146

13.7

Singapore

151

14.2

Taiwan

182

17.1

North America

186

17.4

Australia/New Zealand

117

11.0

200

18.7

1,067

100.0

Holiday/pleasure

393

36.8

Business/meeting

340

31.9

55

5.2

Europe
Total
(d) Main reason for visiting Hong Kong

Visiting friends or relatives

Stop-over
For the food
Total

57

5.3

222

20.8

1,067

100.0

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TABLE 2. Attitudes Toward Food and Travel by Trip Purpose

Trip Purpose

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Holiday Mean Food Mean

(SD) n = 393 (SD) n = 222

p<

Would you describe yourself as

someone who is knowledgeable
about food and cuisines?*

3.51(1.0)

3.8(1.0)

3.5

0.05

When travelling, how important is it

for you to experience different food
and culinary experiences at a
destination?**

4.0(1.4)

4.5(1.1)

4.5

0.001

Do you usually travel because you

wish to experience local cuisine at
the destination?**

3.0(1.0)

4.5(1.1)

4.5

0.001

* 5-point scale where 1 = Not at all knowledgeable, 5 Very knowledgeable

** 5-point scale where 1 = Very unimportant, 5 = Very important

predicted, although they were not as robust as one would expect to validate
group membership.
Descriptive analysis also revealed that gastronomy tourists were
more likely to be male than female, between 26 and 45 years of age, and
reasonably well educated. In addition, gastronomy tourists were more
likely to be repeat v. first time visitors (28.2% v. 17.4%, respectively).
Cross-cultural differences were also found to be a factor useful in distinguishing group membership. In this dataset, respondents who indicated
their primary purpose for visiting Hong Kong was to experience the
food were from Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan, rather than from Europe
and North America. In addition, this also confirmed that Hong Kong
was more of a regional v. a long-haul gastronomy destination.
Factor Analysis
The Principal Components and Orthogonal (varimax) rotation method
was used for the analysis. A variable was considered of practical significance and included in a factor when its factor loading was equal to or
greater than 0.5 (Noruis, 1994; 2000), with a Bartlett Test of Sphericity
value of 5926.133. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin overall measure of sampling
adequacy (MSA) was 0.891. From the Orthogonal (varimax) rotated
factor matrix, seven factors with 21 variables were defined by the original
variables that loaded most heavily (loading 0.5) on them. The factor
analysis produced a clean factor structure with relatively higher loadings

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on the appropriate factors with most variables loaded heavily on the first
four factors but not on the fifth and sixth. This verified that there was a
minimal overlap among these factors and that all factors were independently structured. The higher loadings signalled the correlation of the
variables with the factors on which they loaded. The communality of
each variable was relatively high, ranging from 0.337 to 0.825 which
also indicates that the variance of the original values was captured well
by the six factors. The six-factor solution resulted in 66.8 percent of the
variance explained. The six-factor solution resulted in the following
factor labels:
Factor 1: Expectations of gastronomy
Factor 2: Importance of gastronomy
Factor 3: Gastronomy experiences at destination
Factor 4: Gastronomy as reason for travel
Factor 5: Evaluation of gastronomy experiences at destination
Factor 6: Culture and gastronomy
Regression AnalysisDependent Variable: All things considered,
would you return (revisit) to Hong Kong to sample its gastronomy
sometime in the future?
The analysis showed that all predictors except (F2) Importance of
gastronomy, (F4) Gastronomy as reason for travel and (F6) Culture
and gastronomy were included in the model for the prediction. The
samples gastronomy-tourist group Expectations of gastronomy with
Beta = 0.877, accounted for a very high 87 percent of the variance
explained, and together with (F3) Gastronomy experiences at
destination with Beta = 0.041, and (F5) Evaluation of gastronomy experiences at destination with Beta = 0.041, was found to be the most
important predictor groups, that is, visitor groups that would consider
returning to Hong Kong to sample its gastronomy sometime in the future.
Both the literature and evidence from this study suggest that when
travellers expectations were met and/or were exceeded and that they
were likely to return to the destination sometime in the future. Importantly in this study, it appears that this also applies to gastronomy tourists,
and arguably that the Existential and Experimental gastronomy
tourists, who are knowledgeable in gastronomy, are the most likely
groups who would return to the same destination because if its unique
gastronomy, providing they had satisfying gastronomy experiences
(Evaluation of gastronomy experiences at destination). These results

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51

provide good evidence which suggests that as a result of favourable

experiences, repeat visits to a destination because of its unique gastronomy is a reasonably valid construct to use for destination marketing
purposes. The results from this study indicate that Hong Kongs gastronomy was a significant factor that positively contributed to the
respondents desire to return to Hong Kong. Hence, Hong Kongs gastronomy plays a major contributing role in the creation of a high-quality
travelling experience and return behaviour. In addition, the analysis of
the findings also reveals that Hong Kongs gastronomy might be increasingly converging as a significant element in a range of tourist experiences. That is, gastronomy is increasingly vital to a whole range of
tourism products and services that are offered in Hong Kong.
CONCLUSION
The study described here, identifies that gastronomy is inextricably
linked to the destination and the destinations image; maybe in multidimensional forms which we do not clearly understood as yet. Importantly, the study confirms that gastronomy tourism is a meaningful and
possibly a highly loyal market segment. It can also be hypothesised that
gastronomy experiences are powerful tools for marketing the destination. Although, it can be construed from this research that gastronomy
tourism is indeed a definitive concept and is appropriate for market segmentation purposes, more work is needed before we can conclusively
say that a communitys gastronomy can motivate travellers in significant numbers to base a tourism economy on. However, it must also be
said that the findings of this exploratory study suggest that there indeed
may be such an appeal.
It is reasonable therefore to postulate that these self-described gastronomy visitors were more involved and purposeful in their restaurant
and cuisine choices than the typical visitor and would therefore search
out destinations unique and more satisfying gastronomy. The results
also suggest that these gastronomy tourists were more discerning customers as compared to typical leisure visitors. In addition, given that
these self-described gastronomy tourists were more likely to be from
Asian countries instead of the West, such evaluations may also have
been influenced by national culture.
It has been shown that visitors of different nationalities evaluate
identical services in a differential manner, where visitors from large
power-distance high-masculinity societies (e.g., Japan and Taiwan)

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reported more critical satisfaction measures than visitors from small

power-distance low-masculinity societies (e.g., Australian, Canadian,
U.S.A., Europe) (Crotts and Pizam, 2003). Nevertheless, the influence
of customer satisfaction in repeat patronage is well documented in the
tourism and hospitality literature (see Crotts, 1999; Augustyn and Ho,
1998; Kivela, 1999, 2000). Without meeting or even exceeding these
gastronomy tourists expectations, a destination should not expect to
find a market segment that not only repeat purchases but also clone
themselves among their friends and relatives (Ford and Heaton, 2000).
If gastronomy tourists are to become a target market, it becomes a
critical strategic task to better understand the market segments unique
needs and expectations in greater detail than what has been provided by
this or any other studies found in the literature. One of the essential tasks
in developing and marketing gastronomy tourism, therefore, is to find
ways to add value to the eating experience in order to make it memorable (Richards, 2003:11). Therefore, it is quiet conceivable that the gastronomy tourist may be interested in actively participating in local
gastronomy experiences. In other words, these visitors who place importance on cuisines are credibly driven by the need to continually
broaden their gastronomy knowledge and/or to experience different
taste sensations. Therefore, the experiential aspects of the dining experience for this market segment may have to be re-thought and broadened. Unlike gastronomy destinations such as Tuscany and Lyons,
France where travel packages involving the culinary arts are prevalent,
the challenge for most foodservice operators, and other gastronomy
stakeholders, will be to distinguish between those customers who are
gastronomy tourists and those who are not in their attempt to cater to
segments individual wants and needs. Also, if gastronomy tourists can
be shown to satisfy all the conventional requirements of a market segment, it becomes a viable alternative for communities that do not have
the natural and cultural attractions known to motivate travellers to visit,
or an attractive addition for communities that do have the natural and
cultural attractions. In addition, if the market can be shown to be viable,
the development and promotion of gastronomy offers affords a community an economic basis. Finally, if gastronomy can be shown to influence a significantly large segment of the travelling publics destination
choice, destinations and/or regions within the destination that are struggling for market share could reinvigorate their tourism demand through
public and private investments designed to enhance and promote their
gastronomy offers more effectively.

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SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

The literature suggests that destinations with best chances for developing a gastronomy tourism product are those destinations that already
have the advantageous ingredients to support a gastronomy tourism
strategy. Such resources include unique and/or multi-ethnic cuisine,
creative chefs, unique marine and agricultural products, unique culinary
heritage, and so on. Although gastronomy tourism is the primary tourism
product in only a handful of destinations, a gastronomy-would-be destination, if serious about refining and nicheing its gastronomy tourism
products, should first perform an asset inventory. Little research is
evident in this area; hence, gastronomy asset inventory is an area where
future research can be targeted, for example, restaurants, cafs, farms,
markets, etc. How many resources exist in each category? Another area
for potential research is to investigate the destinations unique gastronomy
heritage, for eample, uniquely cultural/traditional produce/preparation
of food items; growing/producing certain kind of fruits/vegetables/foods:
Gastronomy SWAT analysis, for example, opportunities and threats:
Gastronomy partnerships and cross-marketing.

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