The Linkage between Traditional Food and Loyalty of Tourists to the Rural Destinations

Abstract

Gastronomy tourism can be regarded as a travel to a destination for cultural purposes with experiences of unique and traditional foods at the destination. Based on this, the main hypothesis is set. It follows that traditional food is one of the main reasons for loyalty of tourists. The paper is based on empirical research carried out amongst 328 foreign tourists from eight countries who visited six traditional farm houses (Salaši) in rural destination of Vojvodina (Serbia) in August 2015. The purpose of the study is to investigate the role and importance of traditional food in tourist satisfaction and the extent to which traditional food affects positive attitude and loyalty of the tourists about the rural destination. Analysis of the findings revealed that the traditional food is the attribute that most affected the overall rural tourism experience in Vojvodina (Serbia). It is concluded in the paper that traditional food is important contributor to tourist satisfaction and that satisfied tourists are always pleased to return to a destination.