Tourist buying intentions towards local food: Analysing the moderating impact of food neophobia

Abstract

In recent years, tourism has grown with a focus on traditional and nutritive local food, enabling local farmers and service operators to create regional identities. However, according to researchers, tourists are curious about local food and drinks but somehow hesitate to try them. The current research is the first attempt to comprehensively analyse tourist buying behaviour towards local food of Uttarakhand in India, which is known for its organic and therapeutic staple food. This paper statistically aims to analyse tourists' intentions to buy local food by investigating the moderating effect of food neophobia (FN) on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). A survey of 266 tourists was used to collect data. The findings reveal that subjective norm (SN), attitude (ATT), and perceived behaviour control (PBC) have a positive and significant influence on tourists' buying intention for local food, where both subjective norm and attitude are moderated by food neophobia on their relationship with buying intentions. Furthermore, the study provides valuable information on consumer food choices, so entrepreneurs and decision-makers can accurately assess the likelihood of tourists purchasing local products.