Culinary Experience of International Tourists in Indonesia: A Study

on Denpasar and Yogyakarta Tourist Destinations

Deborah C. Widjaja, Serli Wijaya, Regina Jokom and Monika Kristanti

Faculty of Economics, Petra Christian University, Jalan Siwalankerto 121-131, Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords: Culinary Experience Quality, Culinary Experience Satisfaction, Destination Experience Satisfaction,

Indonesia.

Abstract: Culinary tourism offers tourists to learn new cultures through their experiences with local food of the visited

destinations. The literature shows that although the concept of experience quality, namely tourist

satisfaction in the context of culinary tourism, has been confirmed in many previous studies, a study that

examines the linkages between those variables and destination experience, specifically the culinary

experience with local Indonesian food is still rare. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of

culinary experience quality on destination experience satisfaction with culinary experience satisfaction as a

mediating variable. In total, 202 international tourists who were in Denpasar and Yogyakarta participated in

the survey. The result showed that culinary experience quality positively and significantly influenced

culinary experience satisfaction. Furthermore, culinary experience satisfaction was proven to have a positive

significant effect on the overall destination experience satisfaction.

1 INTRODUCTION

Tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in

Indonesia. In 2017, the country welcomed about

14.04 million international visitors, with a growth

rate of 21.88% over the figure for 2016 (Kemenpar,

2017). Statistics generated from the Passenger Exit

Survey (PES) in 2015 showed that 29.47% of

international tourists visiting Indonesia took part in

culinary tourism activities (Kemenpar, 2015).

Culinary tourism has been prioritized for

development as one of the seven types of special

interest tourism. In 2012, the Ministry of Tourism

and Creative Economy officially launched 30

signature traditional dishes of Indonesia aiming to

improve the awareness of Indonesian culinary

diversity in the international market (Prawitasari,

2012). Moreover, in 2015, the Ministry of Tourism

and Creative Economy designated five cities as

Indonesia’s gastronomy destinations namely:

Bandung, Yogyakarta, Solo, Semarang and

Denpasar (Widianto, 2015).

Chen et al., (2016) argue that tourist experience

of local culinary in one place could influence the

overall destination experience. When enjoying local

cuisines, a tourist would make an assessment of the

culinary experience quality they engaged with. Such

an assessment leads to the satisfaction levels of the

consumption experience. An impressive culinary

experience could trigger the branding of the

destination as a result of the overall satisfaction of

the destination experience.

Despite the rising importance of culinary

experience as a means of destination attraction, the

literature indicates that most of the culinary tourism

studies were mainly accomplished in more

developed tourist destinations (Cohen and Avieli,

2004, Henderson, 2009). To the authors’ knowledge,

there have not been many researches on the

relationship between culinary experience quality and

tourist satisfaction in Indonesia. On this basis, the

authors are interested in further analyzing more

deeply about the extent to which the quality of

tourists’ culinary experience in Denpasar and

Yogyakarta could affect destination experience

satisfaction. Out of Indonesia’s five gastronomy

destinations, Denpasar and Yogyakarta were

selected considering their well-known reputation

worldwide as cultural tourist destinations of

Indonesia. Besides, compared to other cities, these

two cities are well known for their local culinary

precincts that cater to international tourists who

would like to explore Indonesian local foods.

Widjaja, D., Wijaya, S., Jokom, R. and Kristanti, M.

Culinary Experience of International Tourists in Indonesia: A Study on Denpasar and Yogyakarta Tourist Destinations.

DOI: 10.5220/0008487800380043

In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Business Management (ICEBM Untar 2018), pages 38-43

ISBN: 978-989-758-363-6

There are three aims of this study, namely:

1. to examine the effect of culinary experience

quality on culinary experience satisfaction;

2. to examine the effect of culinary experience

satisfaction on overall destination experience

satisfaction;

3. to examine the effect of culinary experience

quality on the overall destination experience

satisfaction.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Culinary Tourism

According to Karim and Chi (2010), there has been

little consensus about a single definition that

describes food-related tourism. The terms food

tourism, gastronomy tourism, and culinary tourism

have been used interchangeably and scholars have

described the various terms inconsistently (Long,

2004, Ignatov and Smith, 2006, Mitchell and Hall,

2003). Wijaya et al., (2017) in their study interpreted

culinary tourism as a trip during which the local

food and beverages experience or consumption is

expressed in various food-related activities,

regardless of whether experiencing local food is or is

not the primary purpose for travel.

2.2 Culinary Experience Quality

Food is a basic sustenance for every tourist during

their travel. Regardless of whether culinary activity

becomes the main goal or merely satisfies the

hunger during the trip, a person's culinary

experience would shape the image of the enjoyable

culinary. One's culinary experience could affect the

overall experience of the visited destinations

(Ignatov and Smith, 2006).

Wijaya et al., (2013) propose a conceptual

framework of international visitors’ dining

experiences with local food, by examining the

experiences in the course of the pre-, during, and

post-dining stages. The pre-dining stage refers to

how international visitors foresee their engagement

with various aspects that may concern dining with

local food, as well as the prospect of associated

experience-based outcomes. The during-dining stage

relates to actual encounters with local food in tourist

the destination, as reflected in visitor perceptions of

the dining experience. Lastly, the post- dining stage

refers to visitors’ satisfaction and behavioral

intentions that emerge after the dining experience

has concluded. It is important to note that culinary

experience is subjective, which means the culinary

experience is influenced by the individual's own

experience (Sfandla and Björk, 2012).

Destination management organizations (DMOs)

could use culinary as a representative of cultural

experience, status, cultural identity, as well as how

to promote the tourist destinations (Horng and Tsai,

2012). Further, Silkes et al., (2013) noted that food

could show a unique and most memorable

experience for the whole trip.

According to Andersson and Mossberg (2004),

culinary experience is multi-dimensional. This

means the measurement of the quality of the

culinary experience can not be seen only from one

dimension of the food, but there are also other

dimensions especially in the context of a tourist

experience with a culinary region that has never

been visited previously. Review of the literature has

shown that there are three major dimensions to

measure the quality of culinary experience with local

food at a tourist destination. These dimensions are:

1) food dimension that relates to attributes of taste,

food authenticity and food uniqueness; 2) social

dimension that includes the extent of which tourists

could interact with the locals and experience the

hospitality and distinct culture of the host; and 3)

place and time dimension that refers to the physical

place where the eating experience with local food

take place, as well as when the eating experience

occurs (Hendijani et al., 2013, Peštek and

Činjarević, 2014, Wijaya et al., 2017).

2.3 Culinary Experience Satisfaction

Satisfaction is commonly viewed as an indicator of

quality of experience (Ryan, 2002). Ryan further

asserts that a satisfactory experience encompasses

congruence between expectations and performance,

while dissatisfaction is reflective of a gap between

expectations and the perceived quality of the tourism

culinary experience. In other words, satisfaction is

generated when consumers compare their initial

expectations with perception (Correia et al., 2008).

Satisfaction is not just about the joy of travel

experience, but also an evaluation that makes the

experience as good as it should be.

In line with the culinary experience dimensions

as described earlier, Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen

(2014) in their study explain that tourist satisfaction

towards culinary experience could be measured

based on three aspects of: 1) what food or local

cuisine being served; 2) where the food is served;

and 3) how the food is served.

Culinary Experience of International Tourists in Indonesia: A Study on Denpasar and Yogyakarta Tourist Destinations

Extensive research has been devoted to

investigating the linkage between culinary

experience and tourist behavior constructs such as

satisfaction, behavioral intention, and loyalty. For

example, Sulek and Hensley (2004) found that

compared to physical environment and service

quality aspects within the restaurant, food quality is

the most important element in determining customer

satisfaction. A study by Correia et al., (2008)

identified the determinants of international visitor

satisfaction with Portugal’s gastronomy tourism. It

revealed three significant factors: local gastronomy;

atmosphere; and food quality and price as the most

important determinants of visitors’ satisfaction.

Research by Hendijani et al., (2013) also confirmed

that in Malaysia, food plays an important and

interesting role in enhancing destination experience.

A positive culinary experience quality perceived by

tourists specifically the first-time travellers indicates

culinary satisfaction, which encourages tourists to

revisit the tourist destination. The foregoing

discussion has led the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1: culinary experience quality has a

positive and significant influence on culinary

experience satisfaction.

2.4 Destination Experience Satisfaction

According to Murphy et al., (2000), destinations can

be viewed as a set of complementary tourism

products and services to form travel experience in an

area visited by tourists. Tourist perception on the

quality of destination experience is determined by

service infrastructure and destination environment.

Service infrastructure consists of a set of products

and services that offer a direct experience for

travellers when they are in a destination, which

includes travel agency services, food service

businesses, accommodation and transport services.

Destination environment is a component supporting

the provision of experience for tourists covering the

natural environment, political conditions,

availability of technology, economic conditions, and

socio-cultural factors of a destination.

The experience of tourists with local culinary

influences the perception of tourists of their overall

experience with the visited destination (Karim and

Chi, 2010). Moreover, the perception of tourists

towards the experience of destination will have a

positive effect on satisfaction, which in turn, could

give a positive impact on the intention to revisit the

destination and the intention give referrals to others

(Barnes et al., 2014). Based on the above discussion,

the following hypotheses were proposed:

Hypothesis 2: culinary experience satisfaction has a

positive significant influence on destination

experience satisfaction.

Hypothesis 3: culinary experience quality has a

positive significant influence on destination

experience satisfaction.

The research model is depicted in figure 1.

Culinary

Experience

Quality

Culinary

Experience

Satisfaction

Destination

Experience

Satisfaction

Figure 1: Research Model.

3 RESEARCH METHOD

The samples were representatives of the indefinite

population of international tourists both in Denpasar

and Yogyakarta. A questionnaire-based survey

incorporating a total of 202 international tourists

who travelled to Denpasar and Yogyakarta was

completed. A minimum of 100 participants were

selected from Denpasar and Yogyakarta,

respectively. They were asked: 1) basic profiles

relating to demographics and travel characteristics;

2) perceived quality of culinary experience; 3)

culinary experience satisfaction; 4) destination

experience quality (using a seven-point Likert scale).

A review of relevant literature was contributed to the

development of the items in the instruments. The

questionnaire was divided into four parts. The

participants were approached mainly at tourist

attractions and culinary precincts in both cities. The

sampling process was one of convenience.

At the end of the survey, 202 questionnaires

were returned. Prior to data analysis, data-cleaning

process was conducted to test the normality and

possible outliers. Two incomplete questionnaires

were dropped, leaving a total of 200 usable ques-

tionnaires ready for further data analysis. The study

applied descriptive statistics to describe the

participants’ profiles. Meanwhile, Partial Least

Square (PLS) path modeling was applied to test the

proposed research hypotheses.

ICEBM Untar 2018 - International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Business Management (ICEBM) Untar

4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Participant Profiles

There were 53% female and 47% male participants.

The majority aged between 21-30 years old (56%).

Two major groups of university students (33%) and

employees (28%) were dominating the total

participants. Most of the participants were from

Australia (28%). Moreover, the most dominant

purpose of visit was for leisure (85%). Most of the

participants travelled with friends (55%). The length

of stay of most participants was less than 7 days

(38%). Almost half of the participants (48%) were

first time visitors.

4.2 Measurement Model

To test the research hypothesis and analyze the

result, SEM-PLS was used. The result of the

construct validity testing showed that there were

three loading factors of Customer Experience

Quality (CEQ) which were below the cut-off value

of 0.50. They are cleanliness (CEQ-P3), different

way of eating the food (CEQ-S3) and interaction

with the local people (CEQ-S1). As a result, they

were eliminated from the construct. The result of the

path analysis after the elimination is shown in figure

Figure 2: Path Analysis of Research Model.

The values of the composite reliability and the

Cronbach’s Alpha value of the three laten variables

were above the cut-off value of 0.70 (reliable).

Table 1: Composite reliability.

Latent Variables

Composite

Reliability

Cronbach’s

Alpha

CEQ (Culinary Experience Quality) 0.8730 0.8374

CES (Culinary Experience

Satisfaction)

0.8403 0.7172

DES (Destination Experience

Satisfaction)

0.8551 0.8091

The goodness of fit in PLS is determined from

the Q

value. The Q

value is calculated from the R

values in table 2. The value of Q

value is: Q

= 1 -

[(1 - 0.4561

)

x (1- 0.3971

)] = 0.366 = 36.6%. It

shows that 36.6% of the change variation of

destination experience satisfaction. The independent

variable was the culinary experience quality and

culinary experience satisfaction as the dependent

variables. Meanwhile, 63.4% were from other

variables which are not analyzed in this research.

Table 2: R Square values.

CEQ (Culinary Experience Quality) 0.0000

CES (Culinary Experience Satisfaction) 0.3971

DES (Destination Experience Satisfaction) 0.4561

Moreover, based on the path coefficients, it

showed that the relationship among the variables

was positive (original sample). From the t-statistic, it

exhibits that all the three relationships were

significant as all the values were all above the cut-

off value of 1.96.

Table 3: Path Coefficients.

Original

Sample (O)

Sample

Mean (M)

Standard

Deviation

(STDEV)

Standard

Error

(STERR)

T Statistics

(ǀO/STERRǀ)

CEQ →

CES

0.6301 0.6476 0.0699 0.0699 9.0088

CEQ →

DES

0.3149 0.3201 0.1267 0.1267 2.4858

CES →

DES

0.4311 0.4385 0.1287 0.1287 3.3496

4.3 Discussions

The findings of this study have a significant

contribution in understanding the variables

influencing the destination experience satisfaction of

the international tourists in Indonesia especially in

Bali and Yogyakarta. Based on the data analysis of

the t-statistics, it was proven that culinary

experience quality (CEQ) significantly influenced

the culinary experience satisfaction (CES) as well as

destination experience satisfaction (DES). It means

that the higher the quality of the culinary experience

as perceived by the respondents, the higher the

satisfaction both of the culinary experience and

destination experience. Moreover, culinary

experience satisfaction (CES) gave a significant

influence on destionation experience satisfaction

(DES). Moreover, the higher the satisfaction of the

participants on the culinary experience, the higher

Culinary Experience of International Tourists in Indonesia: A Study on Denpasar and Yogyakarta Tourist Destinations

the destination experience satisfaction as perceived

by the participants. Accordingly, all the three

research hypotheses were accepted.

On the basis of the total effect calculation, the

direct effect is larger than the indirect effect. It

means that culinary experience quality is partially

mediated by culinary experience satisfaction in

influencing the destination experience satisfaction.

Furthermore, there are three main indicators

constructing the culinary experience quality (CEQ),

they are: the ambience of the dining place (CEQ-

P2), the unique food presentation (CEQ-F5) and the

local people’s hospitality (CEQ-S4). This finding is

in accordance with the previous studies that the three

major dimensions to measure the quality of culinary

experience with local food at a destination are food

dimension (food uniqueness), social dimension

(local people’s hospitality) and place and time

dimension (ambience) (Hendijani et al., 2013, Peštek

and Činjarević, 2014, Wijaya et al., 2017).

Contrary from the previous study, the main

action indicator of culinary experience satisfaction is

the quality of the dining place (CES3) instead of the

food quality, according to by Peštek and Činjarević

(2014). It means that the satisfaction of the

participants who were international tourists was

basically determined more by the dining place

quality than the food quality.

Conversely, the two main indicators of

destination experience satisfaction were the cost

spent (DES-H3) and level of hospitality of local

service staffs (DES-H2). It indicates that the

participants who were international tourists were

satisfied with their visit to Denpasar or Yogyakarta

basically due to the good value for money and the

hospitality of the local staff in providing services to

them during their visit.

5 CONCLUSIONS

This study has contributed to the previous studies on

culinary experience quality and its effects on

culinary experience satisfaction and destination

experience satisfaction. It has confirmed that

culinary experience quality has a positive and

significant influence on both culinary and

destination experience satisfactions. Similarly,

culinary experience satisfaction has a positive and

significant influence on destination experience

satisfaction. It has also confirmed the previous

studies that stated that the international tourists,

when appraising the quality of culinary experience,

will primarily assess the ambience of the dining

place, the uniqueness of food presentation and the

local people’s hospitality.

It is important to note that this study has found

that the culinary experience satisfaction of the

international tourists was mainly determined by the

dining place quality. Therefore, it is worth

considering for local food service providers to pay

attention to the design and comfort of the dining

place to be able to represent the local ambience as it

will influence the international tourists’ satisfaction

while enjoying the good quality of local food

served.

Finally, this study has found that the destination

experience satisfaction of the international tourists

was mainly derived from good value for money and

hospitality of local service staff. For that reason, it is

of great importance for the government of Indonesia

to keep the prices low and for the local service staff

to maintain good hospitality.

6 LIMITATIONS

Due to resources constraints, the empirical

investigation was only conducted in the

geographical scopes of Denpasar and Yogyakarta

cities, thereby it might lead to possible bias because

of the cultural setting. On this basis, the study does

not claim to represent the whole of Indonesia with

its diverse food cultures. It is, therefore

recommended that future studies should be

conducted in other destination contexts and/or in

other cultural settings.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial

support provided by the Indonesian Higher

Education Directorate for conducting the research in

Denpasar and Yogyakarta.

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Culinary Experience of International Tourists in Indonesia: A Study on Denpasar and Yogyakarta Tourist Destinations