Culinary Tourism as A Destination Attraction: An Empirical Examination of Tourists’ Food Satisfaction

This study examines the factors influencing tourists’ revisit intentions for local food in Tabriz, highlighting its potential as a culinary destination. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, integrating both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the study provides a comprehensive assessment. Utilising descriptive and inferential statistics, this study examines the impact of various aspects of the local food experience, including food characteristics, identity, and ethnicity dimensions, on tourists’ satisfaction and revisit intention for local food (RVINTLF). The findings reveal that although the city’s gastronomy was not initially ranked as an attraction, all factors related to traditional foods satisfied most tourists, with souvenirs and traditional food quality significantly enhancing tourists’ positive perception of the destination. Multiple linear regression analysis indicates that the diversity of local food (DVS) and the quality of ingredients (IGD) are significant predictors of RVINTLF, while dining customs (DCUS) show marginal significance, and other factors have no significant impact. The ANOVA F-test confirmed the model’s overall significance (F = 6.763, p < 0.001), explaining 30% of the variance in RVINTLF. Additionally, T-tests and ANOVA tests showed that sociodemographic characteristics had no significant impact on RVINTLF.