Interested in eating and drinking? How food affects travel satisfaction and the overall holiday experience

Abstract

This study addresses the question of how an inherent interest in food affects consumers as travellers. This is done by focusing on food interest as an antecedent and uncovering the effects of such an interest on travel motivation, destination choice, positive food experiences and, further, on satisfaction and overall holiday experience. The links between food attitudes and travel satisfaction and experiences are studied among Finnish travellers using a quantitative research approach. The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that destination food experiences consist of five dimensions with varying effects on satisfaction and travel experiences. The results also prove that these dimensions are conditioned by travellers' food interest. The provided insights have managerial implications as they highlight that food has multifarious effects, which do not emerge only in service encounters.