Co-creation of food tourism experiences: Tourists’ perspectives of a Lisbon food tour

Abstract

Gastronomy has become a distinctive tourism product with the potential of contributing to visitors’ engaged immersion in destinations. Few studies have reflected on visitors’ perceptions of participation in food tour experiences, and research on co-creation in food tours is even more scarce. This study analyses co-creative tourism experience dimensions, previously identified in the literature, through a passive netnography, involving 658 online tourist reviews on TripAdvisor of a food tour experience in Lisbon, to understand how value was co-created by comparing the perceptions of visitors and the service provider. Interview-based data were subject to content analysis. Results showed that “aesthetics/sense,” “feel,” “thinking/education,” “relate,” and “personalization” were the most reported dimensions in tourists’ discourse, which was confirmed by the service provider. The present study provides insights to destination management organizations, marketers and entrepreneurs in creating opportunities for and designing appealing co-creative food experiences.