The Importance Of Tourism In Tourism

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When travelling, people wish to explore certain aspects of different cultures. In the case of some tourists, the reason includes cuisines offered by those destinations. This is referred to a Culinary tourist. According to Long (1998, pp.181), a Culinary tourist applies a multitude of sight, smell, taste, and touch experiences in the association with culture. This type of tourist illustrates this through visiting restaurants, bars, food festivals, and so on. This view was supported by Karim (2010) and Chi (2010). Furthermore, a Culinary tourist possesses the motivation in seeking cultural heritage and find satisfaction from absorbing such cultural heritage on a plate (Beltrán, López-Guzmán & Santa-Cruz 2016). The Following sections will be …show more content…

Generally, Canadian Culinary tourists are generally mid forty year old females that have high income and education status (Ignatov, 2003). Moreover, demographic characteristics of a culinary tourist varies among their physiological needs, safety needs, belongings and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization. In addition, Maslow's hierarchy of needs influences the demographic nature of the culinary tourist (Šimková & Holzner 2014). For example, a culinary tourist whom has their interests in wine will typically have higher income and educational attainment (Ignatov & Smith 2006). Whereas, a culinary tourist who seeks out a more food segmented drive will typically have a lower income and education attainment (Ignatov & Smith …show more content…

As mentioned previously, Culinary tourists enjoy specialty and exotic food. However, this can often impose many negative impacts on consumer views. Duggan (2014) notes how popular shark fin once was as it was classified as a symbol of wealth throughout China. However, over the past 15 years there has been a 98% decline in some shark populations (Duggan, 2014)). As a result of this conservationists along with celebrities such as former basketball player Yao Ming have created an awareness about this current issue (Duggan, 2014). As a result, 85% of Chinese consumers stated that they had given up on dishes such as shark fin soup over the past 3 years (Duggan, 2014). The fact that shark fin soup is a delicacy and a prime representation of culture in a bowl. Tourist’s may stigmatize the Chinese culture for such acts. Another challenge to the tourism service providers stems out in Culinary tourist religious backgrounds. Malkawi (2014) states that halal food is defined as a food allowed in Islamic requirements. Furthermore, service providers will constantly face the challenge of providing food to all consumers including this religious group. Failing to do so can lead to a loss of culinary and cultural experience. Moreover, this adds the challenge of preparing food according to religious dietary conditions (Malkawi,

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