From plate to picture: The role of gastronomic offerings in tourism marketing

Abstract

Gastronomic offerings are key components of travel and destinations. However, scant research has focused on how gastronomic offerings are projected to tourists. Using signaling theory as a framework, this study investigated the presence of gastronomic offerings in 25,231 promotional photos to assess how the pictures represented the food offerings at resorts in five countries. Data were gathered from the brochures published by two leading tour operators in the European market, “TUI” and “Thomas Cook.” The results of content analysis showed that gastronomic offerings were often secondary to cultural and natural assets in brochures. In addition, the number of photos with representation of gastronomy elements increased between 2005 and 2020. Findings also revealed that functional (in a working context) and passive (people eating and drinking) food photos were predominant. Implications for academics and practitioners are discussed.