Food Image and Destination Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Local Food Consumption Values

Local food tourism is becoming increasingly popular, riveting academics to determine the relationships between food image, loyalty, and local food consumption values. The authors particularly aimed to examine how food image might impact loyalty and the mediating role of local food consumption values in this relationship. The research sample comprises foreign tourists visiting İstanbul and Antalya. Analyses were performed over the data collected from 659 foreign tourists visiting the relevant destinations. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for testing the hypotheses. The results revealed that food image is an influential element that plays a determinant role on local food consumption values. Moreover, it was found that food image affects loyalty positively and significantly. It was concluded that taste/quality value, epistemic value and interaction value mediate the relationship between food image and loyalty. On the grounds of the research findings, suggestions were presented for practitioners and future research.