The Impact of Destination Attractiveness on Tourists’ Motivation to Consume Local Foods

Abstract

Although the food is an important aspect in tourism industry, there are limited studies on motivation to consume local foods in tourist destinations. Thus, this study concerns the destination food brand image towards the local foods and motivation to consume local foods based on different destination attractions. Basically, this has main three objectives; to identify the relationship between destination attractiveness, destination food brand image and motivation to consume local foods; impact of destination attractiveness to motivate the tourists’ local food consumption; and how destination food brand images mediate the destination attractiveness and motivation to local food consumption. Five underlying factors were analyzed under destination attractiveness of local food consumption were labeled: cultural experience; authentic experience; food health; sensory appeal; and physical excitement. Primary data has collected from three hundred tourists from Ella and Nuwara Eliya tourist zones and convenience sampling technique has used to select tourists to collect data. Structured questionnaire has fielded among respondents to collect data and SPSS software has used to analyze the collected data. Descriptive statistics, Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, multiple linear regression analysis and Baron and Kenny model of mediator analysis used to analyze the data. Empirical results revealed that destination attractiveness as well as destination food brand image can significantly enhance tourists’ motivation to consume local foods. It implies that destination food brand image partially mediates the relationship between destination attractiveness and motivation to consume local foods. Based on the outcomes, study makes a theoretical contribution and applications of the model are discussed both in terms of practical and managerial implications.