Promoting Creative Tourism: Current Issues in Tourism Research

Proceedings of the 4th International Seminar on Tourism (ISOT 2020), November 4-5, 2020, Bandung, Indonesia

Ahmad Hudaiby Galih Kusumah, Cep Ubad Abdullah, Dewi Turgarini, Mamat Ruhimat, Oce Ridwanudin, Yeni Yuniawati, Ahmad Hudaiby Galih Kusumah, Cep Ubad Abdullah, Dewi Turgarini, Mamat Ruhimat, Oce Ridwanudin, Yeni Yuniawati

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000353563
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

The papers presented in this work cover themes such as sustainable tourism; ICT and tourism; marine tourism; tourism and education; tourism, economics, and finance; tourism marketing; recreation and sport tourism; halal & sharia tourism; culture and indigenous tourism; destination management; tourism gastronomy; politic, social, and humanities in tourism; heritage tourism; medical & health tourism; film induced tourism; community based tourism; tourism planning and policy; meeting, incentive, convention, and exhibition; supply chain management; hospitality management; restaurant management and operation; safety and crisis management; corporate social responsibility (CSR); tourism geography; disruptive innovation in tourism; infrastructure and transportation in tourism development; urban and rural tourism planning and development; community resilience and social capital in tourism.
The 4th ISOT 2020 aimed at (1) bringing together scientists, researchers, practitioners, professionals, and students in a scientific forum and (2) having discussions on theoretical and practical knowledge about current issues in tourism. The keynote speakers contributing to this conference are those with expertise in tourism, either in an academic or industrial context.

Destination management

The crucial attributes for culinary tourism destination based on tourists’ perception

T. Abdullah

University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Gitasiswhara

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia

R.S. Nugraha

Bandung Institute of Tourism, Bandung, Indonesia

DOI 10.1201/9781003095484-15

ABSTRACT: Culinary tourism has economic and socio-cultural benefits. Besides providing employment, this tourism activity plays a role in preserving traditional food and beverage of a region. This study was conducted in West Java Province to assess tourists’ perceptions of culinary tourism in this province and to identify some attributes considered crucial for tourists when visiting culinary tourism destination. This study used surveys to collect the data, which were gathered from 550 participants. These participants were tourists who visited various districts and cities in West Java, Indonesia. The findings show that some attributes in culinary tourist destinations were considered more crucial than others with the most crucial attribute is the accessibility and public transportation.

Keywords: culinary tourism attributes, tourist's perception, tourist destination, tourism activities

1 Introduction

Tourism activities continue to grow rapidly, along with the advancement of technology, and all of tourism stakeholders try to take advantage of this improvement, including tourists. Nowadays, tourists could easily access valuable information to plan their trips. Planning a long journey was once considered confusing and frightening for some people; now, it is more comfortable to be done by anyone. The information about tourist destinations, transportation, travel documents, hotels, and restaurants can be found easily on the internet. Tourists can become tour planners for themselves and gain active experience when traveling (López-Guzmán et al. 2014).

When planning their trip, tourists can be driven by many interests. Tourism attractions and activities mostly are the primary purposes for tourists to visit a destination, and the availability of amenities are needed to support it. One of the essential amenities is the foodservice industry. Food has always been a crucial element in supporting tourism activities. However, currently, there are tourists whose main purpose when visiting an area is to enjoy or to taste its local food (López-Guzmán & Sánchez-Cañizares 2012).

The desire to travel to a place to experience unique and authentic food emerged as a new phenomenon in the tourism industry (Smith & Costello 2009). This type of tourism activity is often called culinary tourism. In this type of tourism, people are looking for an interesting, unique and memorable dining experience. Based on the results of a study by Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen (2014), this experience is formed by consuming local and authentic cuisine which represent the culture of the destination. Therefore, the existence of local and traditional food becomes crucial as the main attraction of culinary tourism activities. Moreover, food is an important part of the culture of an area and it manifests intangible cultural heritage (Updhyay & Sharma 2014). Culinary tourism also shares some economic benefits and one of them is opening opportunities for local people to start small businesses of food and beverage (Sotiriadis 2015). Hence, it does not only provide job opportunities, but also allowing local people to create more various foods through their creativity and later could enhance the attraction of a culinary tourism destination. Culinary tourism is a great potential both as a tourism product and as a marketing tool for tourist destinations. Culinary tourism activities can be a way to promote a destination because food is related with the place and identity (Everett 2008).

This study was conducted to assess tourists’ perceptions of a culinary tourism destination and to identify some attributes considered crucial for tourists when visiting culinary tourism destination. Many studies have identified tourism destination attributes. For instance, some literature focused on general tourism destination attributes (e.g., Buhalis 2000; Chahal & Devi 2015; Davis & Sternquist 1987; Mill 2010; Scott et al. 1978; Yüksel & Yüksel 2001). Some others discussed destination attributes in a more specific type of tourism, such as cultural tourism product (Cave et al. 2007), nature-based resort destination attributes (Meng et al. 2008), and ecotourism product attributes (Abdurahman et al. 2016). There were several studies concerning the attributes related to gastronomy or food, and also attributes of the foodservice establishment (Adhikari, 2014; Burusnukul et al. 2011; Sanchez-Cañizares & Castillo-Canalejo 2015). However, the study on culinary tourism attributes is still under-researched. This study was conducted to explore the attributes of culinary tourism considered important by tourists.

2 Literature Review

Attractions and activities often become the main references for tourists when visiting a destination. However, Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen (2014) argue that food can be one of the evaluation criteria when choosing a travel destination. According to López-Guzmán, Di-Clemente, and Hernández-Mogollón (2014), nowadays, food can even be considered as one of the primary motivations for tourists to visit a destination. Travelers can be attracted to visit a destination to get a dining experience in a restaurant with Michelin Stars predicate, or also in a local restaurant that specializes in providing local cuisine (Björk & Kauppinen-Räisänen 2014).

A type of tourism where the consumption of local food (including drinks) or observing and studying food production (from agriculture or cooking schools) become its motivation and activities can be called as culinary tourism (Ignatov & Smith 2006). There are several other terms which have similar meaning with culinary tourism, namely cuisine tourism, food tourism, gourmet tourism, gastronomy tourism, and gastronomic tourism (López-Guzmán & Sánchez-Cañizares 2012). According to Updhyay and Sharma (2014), all of them are part of food tourism. However, Ignatov and Smith (2006) stated that the most appropriate term is culinary tourism.

Culinary tourism is one of the subcategories of cultural tourism (Updhyay & Sharma 2014). Like other forms of culture, food has a high selling value. Therefore, local food is a valuable resource in tourism and can be the marketing tools (Björk & Kauppinen-Räisänen 2016). Other studies indicate that gastronomy is one of the critical factors which is play an important role in developing and promoting tourism (López-Guzmán & Sánchez-Cañizares 2012; Smith & Costello 2009).

As explained previously, local food has a significant role in tourism, especially culinary tourism. Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen (2016) explained that local food is food served at a destination, including special food that originates from that place, and food prepared using local raw materials. In daily life, the term of local food is sometimes used interchangeably with traditional food although there is a slightly different meaning between them. Traditional food is a product that is often consumed in or related to certain celebrations and/or seasons. The culture is taught from one generation to another. It is made in a certain way according to a specific gastronomic heritage, processed naturally, distinguished and known for their sensory properties, and related to some local regions, states or countries (Vanhonacker et al. 2006). Concerning Indonesian local and traditional food, Holzen (2006) described that the characteristics of Indonesian food as steamed rice accompanied by some savory side dishes such as vegetables, fish or maybe meat and poultry dishes with hot chili seasonings or sambal on the side, and also beans, crispy crackers, and fried shallots sprinkled on top to give a contrasting crunchy taste. Holzen states that this illustration is most appropriate for food from Sumatra, Java, and Bali.

López-Guzmán and Sánchez-Cañizares (2012) stated that if a tourist destination wants to promote its place using its local food, some key points need to be considered, namely; 1) the culinary resources must be differ-ent from other regions, 2) having the local cuisine recognized by tourists, 3) having a lot of food and bev...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of contents
• Preface
• Scientific Committee
• Organizing Committee
• Acknowledgements
• Community based tourism
• Destination management
• Tourism and education
• Tourism gastronomy
• Hospitality management
• Safety and crisis management
• Tourism marketing
• Author index