The role of local food in tourists’ behavior: a structural equation modelling approach

El rol de la comida local en el comportamiento de los turistas: un enfoque de modelo de ecuaciones estructurales

Authors

  • Pimsuporn Poyoi Universitat de Girona. Department Economics. Faculty of Tourism
  • Ariadna Gassiot Melian Universitat de Girona. Department of Business Management and Product Design. Faculty of Tourism
  • Llui­s Coromina Universitat de Girona. Department Economics. Faculty of Tourism

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53596/jta.v29i2.425

Abstract

Even though local food represents a major tourist attraction due to cultural heritage and food experiences, very few studies have reported tourists’ behavioral components regarding local food consumption. The main objective of this study is to analyze the tourists’ behavioral model and examine the influence of the tourists’ motivation and satisfaction on their loyalty towards local food consumption. Ayutthaya city, Thailand, is selected because of its authentic traditional food and tourism activities linked to it. Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) are employed to assure the suitable proposed factor, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is applied to test the hypothesized relationship between the constructs of satisfaction with the local food, motivation, and behavioral intention. Results of this study revealed that tourist motivations have a significant and direct influence on satisfaction and behavioral intentions statistically. As the findings, the more tourists are motivated to consume local food, the more satisfied and more intention to revisit and recommend the tourists. Any study aiming to understand the local food tourists' behavior is helpful to take these constructs into consideration.

Author Biographies

  • Pimsuporn Poyoi, Universitat de Girona. Department Economics. Faculty of Tourism

    Pimsuporn Poyoi is currently a Ph.D. student at the faculty of Tourism, University of Girona, Spain. She obtained master's degree in Tourism and Planning. Her research interests include tourist behavior and decision-making, food experience and sharing in tourism, social media analytics for the tourism and hospitality industries.

  • Ariadna Gassiot Melian, Universitat de Girona. Department of Business Management and Product Design. Faculty of Tourism

    Dr. Ariadna Gassiot Melian is a part-time Professor of Tourism and Marketing at the Department of Department of Business Administration, Management and Product Design, University of Girona and at the Business Department, EU Mediterrani, Barcelona. She completed her PhD in 2016, and her research is related to topics, such as accessible tourism, consumer behaviour, cruise tourism, and text-mining.

  • Llui­s Coromina, Universitat de Girona. Department Economics. Faculty of Tourism

    Dr. Lluís Coromina is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Tourism, University of Girona. He completed his PhD in 2006. His research is related with cross-cultural comparison, quantitative research methodology and tourism behaviour. He also publishes in related fields such as sociology or political science. He is reviewer of international journals, and his publications appear in Tourism Management, Current Issues in Tourism among others.

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Published

2022-12-17 — Updated on 2023-01-18

Versions

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 2 (2022): JTA-Revista Análisis Turístico

Section

Artículos

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Copyright (c) 2022 Pimsuporn Poyoi, Ariadna Gassiot Melian, Llui­s Coromina

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How to Cite

The role of local food in tourists’ behavior: a structural equation modelling approach: El rol de la comida local en el comportamiento de los turistas: un enfoque de modelo de ecuaciones estructurales. (2023). Journal of Tourism Analysis: Revista De Análisis Turístico (JTA). , 29(2). https://doi.org/10.53596/jta.v29i2.425 (Original work published 2022)