US tourists' food neophobia and their local food experiences in France and Italy.

Abstract This study has three major objectives; the first is to explore whether tourists have different levels of food neophobia according to their sociodemographics; the second is to investigate if differences in tourists' local food consumption values exist among different food neophobia groups (FNGs); and the third is to examine whether differences in tourists' behavioural intention to go back to a destination for food tourism exist among different FNGs. This study expects that destination marketers, hospitality businesses and tour operators can achieve a competitive advantage by understanding the concept of food neophobia and its associations with tourists' sociodemographics and local food experiences in a destination. In particular, this study will focus on US tourists' local food perception experiences in France and Italy.