Antecedents of tourist food consumption: food choice motives of foreign tourists in Turkey

ABSTRACT Culinary or gastronomy tourism has become a rising issue nowadays. People want to discover new flavour while travelling. Food consumption is the combination of one’s cultural, social, psychological and sensory acceptance factors and it is a very complex decision-making process. Food consumption is also associated with motivational factors which are mood, health, sensory appeal, familiarity, convenience, price and natural content. The antecedents of tourist food consumption and food choice motives of foreign tourists in Istanbul were examined. The results show that sensory appeal, mood, natural content, health content and convenience had positive and direct connection with tourist food consumption intentions. There is no statistically significant evidence to support the associations of familiarity and price with the tourist food consumption intentions.