A Conceptual Evaluation of Food Consumption Behaviors of Tourists

It is accepted that tourists’ food consumption behaviors are an important phenomenon in terms of tourism. In this context, this research focuses on what factors are influential in the food consumption activities of tourists in a destination. Therefore, this study aims to make a conceptual evaluation by grouping the studies in literature done on gastronomy and tourism in terms of tourist viewpoint. In accordance with this purpose, the related studies were divided into five basic dimensions and analyzed as demographic characteristics of tourists, meaning of eating, tourists' consumption tendencies, tourist motivations and tourist types. As a consequence of this classification, a discussion has been held on the fact that the food consumption behaviors of tourists take place between local (new) food consumption and familiar food consumption and which factors may be effective in this behavior. The study contributed to the literature by clearly grouping the factors influencing the food consumption behaviors of tourists and examining the conceptual relationships among these factors