The role of food festivals in branding culinary destinations

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2020.100671Get rights and content

Highlights

  • A framework is proposed, leading from MOA components of tourist attendees to culinary destination image and loyalty

  • This study tests the branding effectiveness of food festivals to forge a culinary identity of the host destination

  • It elucidates how different personal traits with regard to food involvement matter in destination branding

Abstract

Food-themed festivals are at the heart of culinary tourism and have long been identified as a key element contributing to a destination's competitiveness. Building on the motivation, opportunity, ability (MOA) theory and elaboration likelihood model (ELM), the current study investigates how participants' motivation, time pressure and prior festival knowledge play a role in portraying a favorable culinary destination image that in turn attracts repatronage. In addition, the moderating role of food involvement is also examined. The results are expected to advance the literature on destination branding, and provide managerial insights for destination marketing organizations and industry practitioners.

Introduction

An omnipresent ingredient of travel experience, appreciation of local cuisine and food-related customs has become a must-do activity for many tourists. In parallel with the growing appetite of tourists is the rapid development of culinary tourism, which is considered as a gateway for destination prosperity (Stone, Migacz, & Wolf, 2019). Culinary tourism is defined as “any tourism experience in which one learns about, appreciates, or consumes branded local culinary resources” (Smith & Xiao, 2008, p. 289). To usher in the growth of culinary tourism, destination marketing organizations (DMOs) are actively seeking avenues to forge a destination into a place of gastronomy, with a lineup of promotional events and activities. Food festivals, in particular, have been frequently resorted to as a branding tool for culinary tourism (Du Rand, Heath, & Alberts, 2003; Horng & Tsai, 2010; Lee & Arcodia, 2011; Sotiriadis, 2015).

Most research on food festivals has centered on elements and consequences of the eventscape such as service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty intentions (e.g., Lee, Sung, Suh, & Zhao, 2017; Stone, Soulard, Migacz, & Wolf, 2018; Vajirakachorn & Chongwatpol, 2017). In some recent empirical studies, the association between culinary festivals and destination branding has commanded researchers' attention, linking event attendees' experiences to their perceptions of the host destination (Folgado-Fernández, Hernández-Mogollón, & Duarte, 2017; Lee et al., 2017; Yuan & Jang, 2008). However, like research on other types of events in destination marketing (e.g., Deng & Li, 2014; Hallmann, Zehrer, & Müller, 2015; Lee, Lee, & Lee, 2005), these studies mainly have investigated holistic destination images and loyalty intentions, but not food-specific aspects associated with a culinary destination. Previous research has underscored the distinctiveness between destination image formation and destination branding (Cai, 2002), and has called for the establishment of a unique destination identity (Boo, Busser, & Baloglu, 2009). Therefore, it is worthy to scrutinize how culinary festivals, as key enhancers, can forge a solid food-related image for the host destination, and entice repatronage behaviors. In addition, the quality and value of festivals are the focal factors of current research interest, which will transition to a favorable destination image and enhanced destination loyalty.

From the perspective of customer characteristics, the motivation, opportunity, ability (MOA) theory (MacInnis, Moorman, & Jaworski, 1991) provides theoretical underpinnings to understand how brand information processing is promoted by three advertising executional cues (i.e., motivation, opportunity and ability.) First conceived in advertising and marketing research, this theory has been recently adopted by festival studies to investigate the influential factors of festival participation (Jepson, Clarke, & Ragsdell, 2013). When one of the strategic considerations governing the organization of food festivals is to brand a culinary destination, likewise, the MOA theory establishes the theoretical foundations to scrutinize determinants that will influence the effectiveness of such branding activities, when event attendees participate in the festival with different levels of motivation, opportunity (e.g., time available) and ability (e.g., prior knowledge of the festival).

In addition to examining the three antecedents of branding effectiveness, it is also worthwhile to delve into food-related traits that will condition the impact of the MOA components. In particular, food tourists are characterized by the degree of their interest in food; that is, they may largely vary in their levels of enthusiasm for cuisine that can be conceptualized as food involvement (Robinson & Getz, 2016). Foodies demonstrate a notably ardent interest in authentic culinary experiences from food-themed festivals (Getz & Robinson, 2014). It is therefore of interest to scrutinize whether food involvement plays a role in food festivals and culinary destination branding. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) provides a theoretical basis for investigating food involvement by suggesting a more salient influence of diagnostic cues on consumers' assessment, when a high level of consumer involvement unfolds (Bian & Moutinho, 2011). This model inspires studies to further research food involvement as a conditioning factor that moderates the impact of the MOA clues on culinary destination branding.

The following research questions therefore guide this study: (1) How do the MOA components play a role in culinary destination branding? and (2) Does food involvement moderate these impacts on advertising effectiveness? An empirical study was conducted in Macao, a special administrative region of China that was designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as “a creative city of gastronomy” in 2017. In particular, UNESCO has lauded the role of food festivals in branding Macao as a culinary destination:

Macao has an important experience in hosting large-scale gastronomy-related events such as the Macao Food Festival; a landmark event gathering local and international chefs and key sector stakeholders from across Asia and Europe. (UNESCO, 2018, October 9).

Using Macao Food Festival (MFF) as an example, this study aims to address the two aforementioned questions. A framework is proposed and tested, leading from MOA components of tourist attendees to culinary destination image and loyalty. In addition, the moderating effect of food involvement is also examined. The contributions of this study are threefold. First, while the extant research on the role of events in destination branding is informative, it seldom investigates the creation of a pronounced destination brand identity, but merely focuses on the enhancement of a holistic image and place awareness. The current study fills the void by empirically testing the branding effectiveness of food festivals as an advertising tool to forge a culinary identity of the host destination. Second, it enriches the literature on consumer characteristics in festivals, and elucidates how different personal traits with regard to food involvement matter in destination branding. Finally, the results also provide managerial insights for event organizers and DMOs, helping them to synergize their efforts and resources, and to employ tactics that cater to the needs of target tourist segments.

Section snippets

Destination image, destination branding and brand image transfer

Destination image has been recognized as “the individual's mental representation of knowledge, feelings, and global impressions about a destination” (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999, p. 870). Although destination image formation constitutes the core of destination branding, the two concepts are distinct (Cai, 2002). To brand a destination, marketers should select a consistent brand element mix to establish a unique destination identity (Boo et al., 2009). Buhalis (2000) has also underscored the

Motivation, opportunity, ability (MOA) theory

First conceived in advertising and marketing research, the MOA theory posits that brand information processing is promoted by three advertising executional cues: motivation, opportunity and ability (MacInnis et al., 1991). These three drivers largely condition consumers' level of information processing and the extent to which they “allocate attention and processing resources to comprehend and elaborate on brand information in an ad” (MacInnis et al., 1991, p. 33). Without adequate MOA cues of

Sample and data collection

Lee and Arcodia (2011) underscored four distinct characteristics of food festivals that contribute to destination branding: festivals' longevity, number of visitors, government assistance, and media coverage. The MFF, as one major annual event with substantial government support and high media exposure, has attracted a vast number of visitors regionally and internationally (UNESCO, 2018, October 9). Therefore, it has been selected as the research context for the present study.

Empirical research

Sample profile

The gender composition showed that more females (59.1%) than males (40.9%) completed the survey. About one half of the respondents were 25 to 34 years old (45.4%) and a majority of them (74.2%) held a bachelor's degree or above. Most of the respondents came from mainland China (73.1%) and had a monthly income level not in excess of $1500 USD (74.9%). Respondents were predominately repeat visitors to Macao (77.4%), but more than half were first-time participants in MFF (53.7%). On average, each

Role of food festivals in branding a culinary destination

Given the valid evidence of festivals' role in enhancing a destination's image and awareness (e.g., Deng & Li, 2014; Hallmann et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2005), there is still a paucity of research on whether festivals are effectively building a unique identity or a desired image of a destination, especially in the context of culinary tourism development (Folgado-Fernández et al., 2017; Lee et al., 2017; Yuan & Jang, 2008). In addition, the characteristics of festival attendees, which could be

Yang, Fiona X. (PhD, Hong Kong Science and Technology University) is an assistant professor in Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau. Her research interests include tourism and hospitality marketing, organizational behavior and supply chain management. Her publications appear in scholarly journals such as Tourism Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,

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    Yang, Fiona X. (PhD, Hong Kong Science and Technology University) is an assistant professor in Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau. Her research interests include tourism and hospitality marketing, organizational behavior and supply chain management. Her publications appear in scholarly journals such as Tourism Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly and more.

    Dr. Wong, IpKin Anthony (PhD, University of Hawaii) is a professor of School of Tourism Management at the Sun Yet-Sen University, China. His current research interests include tourism and hospitality marketing, service quality management, international marketing, green marketing and tourism, and branding and destination image. His publications appear in scholarly journals such as Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, and more. He serves as a coordinating editor for International Journal of Hospitality Management and a board member for Journal of Travel Research, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, and Journal of Business Research.

    Dr Tan, Xiuchang Sherry received a doctorial degree at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She is a lecturer at the Institute for Tourism Studies. She had worked in the MICE industry for years and got rich experiences in organizing events ranging from exhibitions, conferences, seminars and special events. Her publication appears at Tourism Management and Journal of Vacation Marketing.

    Wu, Don Chi Wai (MPhil, City University of Hong Kong) is a lecturer at Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM). He is currently a PhD student at the Department of Management Science, College of Business, City University of Hong Kong. His research interests include economic indexes, business intelligence, deep learning and statistical modelling. His research has appeared in Singapore Economic Review and Current Issues in Tourism.

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