The use of a semi-qualitative methodology in food tourism re- search: Different ways to satisfy a highly demanding tourist

Abstract

When it comes to revitalizing rural areas and securing their population, food tourism can play a useful role. As such, there is a need for an in-depth analysis of the characteristics of the food tourism market, in order to better tailor it to tourists' demands. Accordingly, this paper centres on the analysis of satisfaction as a tool for better understanding these tourists and ensuring the tourism offer is appropriately oriented towards the elements that influence their satisfaction. To do so, this paper takes a subsector within this niche market and conducts a survey of food tourists, yielding a total of 489 responses. A semi-qualitative model is applied to those responses, with the sample divided into domestic and international tourists. The results show that international tourists' satisfaction relates to a comprehensive offer of activities, while the potential offer for domestic tourists is more flexible. These results can help to better understand the complex behaviour of tourists who engage in this type of tourism and to design adequate strategies to ensure their satisfaction, involving the provision of different sets of activities that take into account different tourist segments.