Examination of Tourists’ Culinary Experience: Revisiting the Experience Economy in the Case of Hue Cuisine

Abstract

This research aims to examine a scale to measure the culinary experience of tourists through the case of Hue cuisine in Vietnam. It could help address the issue of measurement inconsistency in culinary experience research. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 20 domestic tourists and then through surveys with 433 tourists. Using factor analysis methods, the research revealed that tourists’ culinary experience was measured by a second-order scale encompassing three interrelated dimensions. They included educational experience, escapist experience, and entersthetic experience. This culinary experience scale was found to be reliable, convergent, discriminant, and nomologically valid. The newly developed scale of culinary experience could be utilized in similar tourism contexts where the local food is unique and tasty. In addition, the research enhances tourism professionals' understanding of the significance of tourists' culinary experience. Consequently, they could improve tourists' experiences through a range of activities, such as telling stories about the local food, creating food check-in venues, and organizing local food games or contests. In terms of theoretical contribution, this research enhances the understanding of customer experience in the tourism context by validating a new second-order scale of culinary experience. The research also provides empirical evidence to demonstrate the multi-dimensional, collective, and changing nature of tourists’ culinary experience, using the Experience Economy perspective.