Foreign travellers’ recommendation of culinary tourism in India based on cuisine image and satisfaction with experiences at culinary establishments: an exploratory study by Sudip Duttagupta A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Environmental Studies in Geography – Tourism Policy and Planning Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2013 © Sudip Duttagupta 2013 1 Author’s Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract The role of food in tourism has recently received increased attention within the spheres of destination marketing, tourism development, and academia. Cuisine appreciation is an indelible aspect of the holistic, polysensual experiences that travellers seek thesedays (Crouch & Desforges, 2003; Everett, 2009). The experience of cuisine is the overarching theme for this study. It addresses a gap in knowledge concerning the concepts of image, satisfaction, and behavioural intentions (which have been abdundantly researched from a destination perspective) applied to cuisine and the travel experience. Specifically, this study’s purpose was to determine foreign travellers’ likelihood to recommend India for culinary tourism based on their perception of its cuisine and satisfaction levels with culinary experiences during their travel to the country. Additional aspects of the culinary behaviour of foreign travellers to India, such as their frequency of patronising Indian culinary establishments, types of establishments they visited, key sources of cuisine knowledge, and their opinion on cuisine knowledge based on culinary experiences in the country, are also revealed in the study. As well, the study incorporated a comparative analysis between how Indian cuisine is perceived vis-à-vis Thai, another globally popular cuisine. A cross-sectional quantitative research design was employed in this study. A questionnaire comprising of six-point Likert scale questions for cuisine image, satisfaction with culinary establishments, and recommendation for culinary tourism, and a combination of additional close and open-ended questions was posed to a convenience sample of foreign travellers to India. Data analyses consisted of frequency analyses, and parametric and non-parametric tests to address the research questions and establish correlations between the study’s central concepts. The results indicate that the sample of foreign travellers’ perception of Indian cuisine was positive overall and equivalent in comparison with that of Thai cuisine. A majority of respondents were satisfied with their culinary experiences in the country and recommended India for culinary tourism, in spite of the culinary challenges faced. The results also indicate that cuisine experience featured prominently as one of the most enjoyable aspects of their trip and that foreign travellers patronised Indian culinary establishments iii on a frequent basis. Respondents used affective as well as cognitive sources of cuisine information and a majority felt that culinary experiences in India had an ameliorative effect on their overall cuisine knowledge. This study carries particular pertinence in light of recent efforts on the part of the Ministry of Tourism, India to promote culinary tourism as a distinct tourism segment. Although the study cannot claim to be wholly conclusive as it is limited to a small convenience sample, the results provide valuable insight on this previously under-researched topic. Acknowledging the aforementioned caveat, implications and recommendations for three stakeholders are presented: culinary tourism marketers, owners/managers of culinary establishments, and the academic community. It is suggested that stakeholders contextualise the learnings from this study to their unique needs from a culinary tourism promotion and managerial standpoint. Being that this is an exploratory study, further research is recommended to explore the nuances of the study’s central themes with respect to phenomenon of culinary tourism. iv Acknowledgements At the onset, I would like to thank Dr. Stephen Smith for conceding to be my thesis advisor. I am grateful for his unwavering support as I wrestled with ideas, concepts, and methodological dillemmas. Dr. Smith’s feedback has always been insightful - it has been a honour to work with him. I am also indebted to my committee member, Dr. Judith Cukier for providing such a strong foundation in research methods through the “Seminar in Tourism Research” course in year-one. Dr. Cukier’s recommendations, particularly on the data analysis and discussion chapters were invaluable . Her encouraging words certainly infused me with the confidence I needed to go forth my defence. My external reader, Luke Potwarka’s knowledge and passion for consumer behaviour was evident during my defence. His broad- scale insights on context and inter-connectedness of concepts as well as more specific opinions regarding methodology and discussion of results were greatly valued and incorporated into this final version. Heartfelt appreciation also goes to to my brother Shantanu, who braved the pre-monsoon Delhi humidity with me as we hesitantly approached total strangers (the “tourists”) with the surveys. I am also grateful to my father, a veritable “intellectual” and from who I have imbibed my inquisitive disposition. My mother, parents-in-law, and my wife have all been steadfast in their support for my academic endeavours over the last two years - I dedicate the (apt) cliché, “I could not have done this without them” to them. Lastly, I would also like to thank my dear friend and tennis partner, Hanut Bal who has contributed some excellent ideas over the course of the last two years. v Table of Contents Author’s Declaration ………………………………………………………………………………….…. ii Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. iii Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………………................. v List of Tables ………………………………………………………………………………………….... viii List of Figures ………………………………………………………………………………………….... ix 1.0 INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………………... 1 1.1 Economic value of food in tourism ……………………………………………………… 2 1.2 Motivations for this study …………………………………………………………………. 3 1.2.1 A contextual gap ……………………………………………………………..….. 5 1.3 Research purpose and questions …………………………………………………………… 8 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………………………………………..…… 11 2.1 Terms, definitions, and concepts …………………………………………………………. 11 2.2 The association of cuisine and culture …………………………………………………… 15 2.3 Cuisine and place identity ………………………………………………………………… 16 2.4 Cuisine and travel …………………………………………………………………………. 20 2.4.1 Experiencing the “novel” through cuisine …………………………………….... 21 2.4.2 Motivations for culinary tourism ……………………………………………….. 23 2.4.3 Culinary challenges faced by travellers ……………………………………….… 27 2.5 Cuisine and image …………………………..…………………………………………….. 29 2.5.1 The concept of image …………………………………………………….......….. 29 2.5.2 Image formation ………………………………………………………………..... 30 2.5.2.1 The role of information sources in image formation and decision-making …….. 33 2.5.3 Image as an antecedent to behaviour and evaluation ……………………………. 36 2.5.4 Attributes of a cuisine ………………………………………………..………….. 37 2.6 Satisfaction in the culinary experience …………………………..……………………….. 39 2.6.1 Dimension of culinary satisfaction ………………………………….......……..... 41 2.6.2 Satisfaction and behavioural intentions …………………………………………. 45 3.0 INDIA: CULINARY PERSPECTIVES …………………………………………………..……. 48 3.1 Religious and historical context of Indian cuisine ………………………….…………….. 48 3.2 Regional cuisines of India ……………………………………………………….……..…. 50 3.3 Tourism and cuisine in “Incredible India”………………………………………………… 51 3.3.1 The “Incredible Tiffin” campaign ……………………………………................. 53 3.4 Types of culinary establishments in India ……………………………………………....… 54 4.0 RESEARCH METHOD ………………………………………..…………………………..……. 58 4.1 The research design ………………………….…………………………………………..... 58 4.2 The survey instrument …………………………………………………………………….. 59 4.2.1 Pilot test …………………………………………………………...….................. 62 4.3 Participants and sampling ……………………………………………………………….… 63 4.3.1 Online survey participants ………………………………………………............. 64 4.3.2 In-person survey participants ………………………………………………….… 65 4.4 Data collection …………………………………………………………………………..… 66 4.4.1 Data collection using online survey administrtation…………………………....... 66 4.4.2 Data collection via in-person surveys ………………………………...…………. 67 vi 4.5 Ethical considerations …………………………………………………………………..… 69 4.6 The data analysis process …………………………………………………………………. 69 4.6.1 Reliability…………………………........................................................................ 71 4.6.2 Descriptive analyses …………………………………………………………...… 71 4.6.3 Inferential analyses ……………………………………………………..……….. 72 4.6.3.1 Comparison between Indian and Thai cuisine image ………………………..…. 73 4.6.3.2 Correlation between Indian cuisine image and culinary establishment satisfaction………………………………………………………………………. 74 4.6.3.3 Correlation between culinary establishment satisfaction and recommend for culinary tourism ……………………………………………………………….... 75 5.0 RESULTS ………………………………………..…………………...……………………..……. 76 5.1 Demographic information ………………………….………………………………..…..... 77 5.2 Trip characteristics …………………………………………………………..……………. 78 5.3 Culinary behaviours ……………………………………………………………………....