Abstract:
Although the food is an important aspect in tourism industry, there are limited studies on motivation to
consume local foods in tourist destinations. Thus, this study concerns the destination food brand image
towards the local foods and motivation to consume local foods based on different destination attractions.
Basically, this has main three objectives; to identify the relationship between destination attractiveness,
destination food brand image and motivation to consume local foods; impact of destination
attractiveness to motivate the tourists’ local food consumption; and how destination food brand images
mediate the destination attractiveness and motivation to local food consumption. Five underlying
factors were analyzed under destination attractiveness of local food consumption were labeled: cultural
experience; authentic experience; food health; sensory appeal; and physical excitement. Primary data
has collected from three hundred tourists from Ella and Nuwara Eliya tourist zones and convenience
sampling technique has used to select tourists to collect data. Structured questionnaire has fielded
among respondents to collect data and SPSS software has used to analyze the collected data. Descriptive
statistics, Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, multiple linear regression analysis and Baron and
Kenny model of mediator analysis used to analyze the data. Empirical results revealed that destination
attractiveness as well as destination food brand image can significantly enhance tourists’ motivation to
consume local foods. It implies that destination food brand image partially mediates the relationship
between destination attractiveness and motivation to consume local foods. Based on the outcomes,
study makes a theoretical contribution and applications of the model are discussed both in terms of
practical and managerial implications.
