Gastronomic tourism experiences and experiential marketing

Gastronomic tourism is a growing niche in tourism, hospitality, marketing, regional development, and education. Gastronomy also features prominently as an enabler of tourist experiences through events and festivals. Gastronomic consumption is a significant motive of visitation for tourists and also capable of providing diverse experiential attainments (Dixit, 2019). Having a potentially significant influence on destination choice, national and local cuisines can play an important role in rendering the quality of the holiday experience (UNWTO, 2012). Agyeiwaah et al. (2019) categorize gastronomic tourism consumption into three classes, i.e. observational (e.g. food shows), experiential (e.g. wine tourists), and participatory (e.g. cooking class) based on the nature of involvement in the experience. The three classes are not mutually exclusive and there is an increasing recognition that such experiences can also happen in a mediated environment, with a fully immersive online experience becoming more popular during COVID-19.

Gastronomic tourism is indeed very experiential given its sensorial aspects, with a particular focus on taste (Kesimoğlu, 2015). However, food consumption is a unique tourist activity that gratifies all the senses (Kivela & Crotts, 2006), whereby often the visual elements determine food attractiveness before the other senses kick in. The sensory appeal of local food has been topical in the tourism and hospitality literature (Kim & Eves, 2012). Gastronomic tourism has thus emerged as a significant component of consumers’ lived experiences, regardless of country of origin, shaping decision-making processes, dining choices, and holiday destinations (Dixit, 2020; Ellis et al., 2018; Henderson, 2009; Robinson et al., 2018). Emerging research also examine tourists’ aversion to food experiences that are considered dissimilar to the home environment through the lens of food neophobia (Pourfakhimi et al., 2021).

Three evolutionary phases of gastronomic tourism experiences have been documented (Richards, 2015). While the first generation was focused on the production of themed experiences for consumers, the second generation centered on co-creation. The third generation recognizes that gastronomic experiences should be situated in the development of communities and food (Pratt et al., 2020; Richards, 2015). This implies a greater integration of gastronomic tourism into local systems, sustainability, and regional development. Yet, there is much confusion with respect to concepts such as food, culinary, and gastronomic tourism. As Hall (2020, p. 285) suggests, ‘they are related but different’, with gastronomic and culinary tourism dealing more with high-end restaurants and haute-cuisine. Gastronomy focuses on elements of food, flavor, culture, history, and environment (Baldwin, 2018), whereas culinary is concerned with food preparation, execution, flavor development, and techniques. Although both look at food and derived techniques, culinary is more technical while gastronomy tends to be more philosophical in nature (Baldwin, 2018).

Local gastronomy, in particular, sheds light on the host culture, heritage, and traditions at one end but also develops a sense of pride amongst the community at the other end (Dixit, 2019), while also providing opportunities for both rural and urban communities to participate in the tourism industry. Thus, this special issue accepted submissions that examined gastronomic experiences from both producer and consumer perspectives that focused on local gastronomy. From the 87 initially submitted abstracts, this special issue includes eight papers, with an additional four assigned to normal issues due to space limitations. From consumers’ perspectives, we were particularly interested in third-generation gastronomic experiences where the tourist is an active rather than a passive agent in the development and presentation of gastronomic experiences.

Given that local food has a diverse value, including local, ethnic, and national traditions, as well as history, customs, culture, and eating habits beyond gastronomic and dietary values (Choe & Kim, 2018; Hall, Mitchell, et al., 2003; Hall, Sharples, et al., 2003), we have also considered studies that emphasized the experiential value and the holistic nature of food experiences and their ability to bond people through food (Boswijk et al., 2007). Beyond the experiential aspects, gastronomic tourism also has socio-cultural implications on society, place, and identity (Kesimoğlu, 2015). In particular, the nexus of religious requirements and gastronomic tourism experiences is an area of significant omission in the literature (Hall & Prayag, 2019). Therefore, this special issue aims to enrich and update the existing literature on connecting experiences and co-creation opportunities in gastronomic tourism. To evaluate gastronomic experiences and their implications for experiential marketing, we have focused on those studies that transcend the boundaries of gastronomic and culinary tourism experiences so that the broader scope of food tourism experiences can be examined. The special issue papers transport us through gastronomic experiences from four continents (Asia, Europe, South America and Australia).

The special issue articles

The present special issue advances the conceptual and empirical understanding of gastronomic tourism and experiential marketing. Therefore, this special issue offers insights into original, transdisciplinary, conceptual, and methodological perspectives on gastronomic tourism experiences and experiential marketing. The themes covered in the special issue include studies examining gastronomic experiences related to consumer-based brand equity, gastro-nostalgia, gastronomic tourism experiences through online platforms, the culinary creative process of Michelin chefs, restaurant servicescapes, and gastronomic experience (co) creation. The special issue also highlights other contemporary themes such as gastronomic experiences in high Peruvian cuisine, gastronomic tourists’ profiles through artificial neural networks, gastronomy tourism experiences attained from cooking classes, the framework of co-creative tourism experiences, spatial distribution of sustainable gastronomy, and a systematic quantitative literature review of gastronomy tourism and destination image. As guest editors, we sincerely hope that the accepted articles for this special issue will clearly emphasize theoretical contributions and implications for tourism policy, destination management, and marketing.

The first paper authored by Manimont, Pike, Beatson, & Tuzovic investigates the impact of FoodPorn on user-generated content (UGC) and its role in influencing the perceptions of ‘food trippers’ toward local culinary precincts in a metropolitan area in Australia. Using mixed-methods, the authors identify that culinary precinct attractiveness is very much dependent on the benefits food trippers perceive when gazing upon food imagery. Therefore, the antecedents of gazing affect intensity and engagement, which subsequently influence the brand equity of a culinary destination. The findings have implications for how DMOs use UGC to create destination brand equity around local food and which types of food-travel photography effectively communicate food culture.

The second paper by Kattiyapornpong, Ditta-Apichai and Chuntamara, harnesses the potential available through online platforms to understand how gastronomic tourists’ experiences can impact local communities in Thailand. They reviewed 461 UGC from five online platforms and concluded that, beyond providing ways for tourists to access a variety of unique gastronomic experiences, local online platforms allow tourists to access authentic food, interact with local community members, better understand the social aspects of how food benefits local communities, and provide opportunities for tailor-made cultural learning from food experiences. In this way, these online platforms can be used for designing and marketing gastronomic tourism experiences.

The third paper by Madeira, Palrão, Mendes and Ottenbacher explores the culinary creativity of 18 Michelin-starred chefs in Portugal. Gastronomic innovation and creativity underpin the success of fine dining restaurants, a process that requires chefs to evaluate their emotions, view themselves as artists, get inspired by different sources, cook in their mind and on the stove, but also engage in a solitary process of food creation. The creativity and innovation process can be methodical or a random process, but these chefs also had to reflect on whether they are creating for themselves, or for the customer, or both. They also considered sustainability of food as an important facet in creating new menus and food. The authors propose a framework to guide the creative process in Michelin-starred restaurants, having implications on how this creative process can be communicated to customers to increase restaurant appeal.

The fourth paper by Marine-Roig and Llonch-Molina examines the role of co-creation in improving the online gastronomic image and overall destination image in two locations, Taiwan and Catalonia. Evaluating UGCs from Trip Advisor over a period of 12 years, they propose gastronomic images as consisting of designative, appraisive, and prescriptive facets. These dimensions align with the cognitive, affective, and attitudinal components that are integral to destination image formation in general. Their findings have implications for branding, promoting, and marketing gastronomic tourism experiences.

The fifth paper by Mandal, Gunasekar, Dixit, and Das undertakes a scale development process that solidifies their theorization of ‘gastro-nostalgia’. According to these authors, the concept reflects nostalgia as cuisine, experience, ambiance, socialization, personal identity, and cultural identity. Using two gastro-festivals in India as a study location, they first theorize the concept of gastro nostalgia, followed by a scale development that can be applied to understand the concept but also its relationship with tourists’ future behavioral intentions. Managing the six facets identified in gastro-tourism festivals and events can enhance tourist experiences.

The sixth paper by Matson-Barkat, Robert-Demontrond, and Otnes, explores place meanings in Brittany, France, through the lens of restaurant servicescapes. Adopting a qualitative approach, they uncover that how restaurants structure their servicescape to create place meanings. Specifically, the interior and exterior environments, service offerings, and social environments provide opportunities for tourists to connect more meaningfully to the restaurant experience, and thereafter connect to their holiday experience through physical and social immersion, investigation, and learning. As such, the study provides implications for service design, branding, and promoting tourist destinations based on their restaurant experiences that have the capacity to influence the entire holiday experience and create place meanings.

The seventh paper by Osorio, Frew, Lade, and Williams explores the design and delivery of gastronomic experiences at restaurants serving high-Peruvian cuisine using a qualitative approach. The authors interviewed 15 renowned Peruvian chefs who had educational or professional experience abroad or previous exposure to foreign cultures via the provision of restaurant services. They were identified as cultural brokers in the creation and delivery of gastronomic experiences at high-end restaurants. Their Peruvians identity lends authority to their discourses, validates claims of authenticity, and helps to create meaningful communicative forms that can be translated into other cultures. This study throws light on the importance of creating gastronomic experiences driven by local initiatives.

The eighth paper by Moral-Cuadra, Solano-Sánchez, Menor-Campos, and López-Guzmán intends to determine the relationship between culinary tourists’ sociodemographic profile and their interest in gastronomic tourism. The study uses an artificial neural network (ANN) of the multilayer perceptron (MLP) to estimate the sociodemographic profile of tourists visiting the city of Córdoba. The delimitation of the gastro tourist profile allows both public administrations and private companies to promote and consolidate tourism strategies to reinforce the quality of the destination experience. This research concludes that gastronomy is an important way to socialize and spend more time with family and friends.

Due to the limitation of the page budget assigned to the journal, the remaining four articles from this special issue will be published in the regular issues of the journal. A brief summary of these articles is as follows:

The paper ‘Gastronomy Tourism Experiences: The Cooking Classes of Cinque Terre’ authored by Kokkranikal and Carabelli applied experiential dimensions to examine cooking classes for destination development and destination branding. The paper entitled ‘Co-creative Tourism Experiences – a conceptual framework and its application to Food & Wine Tourism’ by Carvalho, Kastenholz and Carneiro analyzes the academic literature to identify the main experience dimensions to be considered within the scope of co-creation in tourism, particularly food and wine tourism-related, using an integrative literature review approach. ‘The spatial distribution of sustainable gastronomy: A case study of tourism in Prague’, a paper by Lochman explores a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to develop a comprehensive and representative understanding of the spatial distribution of sustainable gastronomy. And finally, Sio, Fraser and Fredline present a contemporary systematic quantitative literature review of gastronomy tourism and destination image, which explores the relationship between gastronomy tourism and destination image.

The ultimate aim of this special issue was to bring together original work from different continents and countries on experiential marketing of gastronomic tourism to enhance the existing body of knowledge. In sum, all the accepted articles of this special issue will undoubtedly make readers ponder upon the contemporary research themes of gastronomic tourism and experiential marketing. These themes may pave the way and instigate other researchers to undertake a wider scrutiny of the topic in the future. We certainly feel that the special issue will garner its due attention among food researchers and gastro practitioners, so please keep relishing it.

Bon Appétit!!!