Factors Influencing Tourists’ Perception towards Bangladeshi Foods

Abstract

Identification of tourists’ perception regarding the foods of a destination and the pivotal factors those outline and influence their perceptions can help the Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) and related stakeholders to shape market driven offerings and to augment positive brand image of that destination. Notwithstanding having great potential of food tourism, there is no study exists in Bangladesh that exclusively attempted to cover this area. Moreover, none of the study in Bangladesh principally tried yet to discover tourists’ perception towards Bangladeshi foods (BF). Consequently, this study was a step to fulfill the recognized gaps as well as, an initiative to append empirical findings in the existing literature of food tourism. Both exploratory (desk research and literature review) and descriptive (survey method) research designs were utilized to conduct the current study. Probabilistic Stratified Random Sampling (SRS) technique was used to gather the primary data from 520 sample respondents and the data were collected from 7 popular tourist destinations located at the 4 different regions of Bangladesh. Descriptive statistics (Frequency distribution) and multivariate interdependence data analysis technique (factor analysis) were used to analyze the collected data. Although, this study found that tourists have positive perception towards BF however, the present study clarified and recommends that scope are still available to enhance it further. This study also discovered that tourists’ perception regarding BF is formed and influenced by the 4 principal factors labeled as Food diversity representing Bangladeshi culture, Image of the Bangladeshi foods, Unique characteristics of the Bangladeshi foods, and Good value for money. DMOs and related stakeholders can use this study as a reference to develop food tourism in Bangladesh and to enhance the overall brand image of Bangladesh. Moreover, this study also contributes to the food tourism literature and minimizes the known literature gap for developing countries.

Keywords: Food Tourism, Bangladeshi Foods, Perception, Food Culture, and Destination Brand Image