Rethinking game consumption in tourism: a case of the 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak in China

ABSTRACT

This opinion piece highlights a lethal connection between novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) and wildlife consumption in tourism. While NCP continues to make headlines in the mainstream media, little academic research has considered this illness, especially through the lens of food neophilic tourism. Yet this research stream requires attention, particularly because food is a key motivational factor behind tourists’ travel and destination choices. In the case of food neophilic tourism, visitors directly consume wildlife and other exotic cuisine. Unfortunately, this novelty-seeking behavior may pose health risks; wild and exotic animals can carry deadly viruses that have been found to trigger global health epidemics such as SARS, H1N1, bird flu, and NCP. Despite international government agencies’ legislative efforts to control wild and exotic animal consumption, demand from food neophilic tourists continues to increase. This paper initiates a dialogue urging tourism scholars to study food tourism and offers practical and theoretical insight to contextualize this perennial and pertinent phenomenon.

KEYWORDS:

• Novel coronavirus pneumonia
• food neophilic tourists
• food tourism
• wild and exotic animal consumption

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tianyu Ying

Tianyu Ying is an Associate Professor in the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, Zhejiang University, China. His research interests lie in the Chinese outbound tourist market, the information elements in both the demand and supply sides of the tourism system, and the sustainability issues in tourism from a social perspective. He also has a methodological interest in applying social network analysis on various topics related to travel and tourism.

Kaiyun Wang

Kaiyun Wang is a PhD student in the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, Zhejiang University, China. Her research interests lie in the areas of ethics and tourist behavior.

Xinyi Liu

Xinyi Liu is currently a PhD student in the College of Tourism at Sichuan University, China. Her current research interests lie in Chinese tourist behaviour and outbound tourism marketing.

Jun Wen

Jun Wen is a lecturer in tourism and hospitality management in the School of Business and Law at Edith Cowan University. His current research interests lie in Chinese outbound tourism marketing, behaviours, and other related aspects.

Edmund Goh

Edmund Goh, PhD, is Deputy Director, Markets and Services Research Centre, School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. He has published in leading journals such as Tourism Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Journal of Tourism and Travel Marketing, and Environmental Education Research. Edmund sees his research as the nexus to address education and industry gaps.