The Role of Food and Gastronomy in Online Travel Reviews about Agritourism Experiences. The case of Italy

Elena MarchioriFabienne BoegliAsta AdukaiteLorenzo Cantoni

Introduction

Rural tourism growing interest

intrinsic characteristics: stressing ecological equilibrium, relax, and healthy lifestyles

extrinsic factors: favorable legal frameworks and funding schemas plus shortening of family/personal travel budgets / travelling distances / vacation periods

Introduction

Rural tourism is a general model in which agritourism plays only a small part

Agritourism consists of “traveling to farming establishments in order to enjoy their natural, cultural and productive values”

www.ecotourisminamerica.com

Agritourism Experience

The pyramid of agritourism, from Sznajder, Przezborska, Scrimgeour (2009)

International Visitor Dining Experiences and the Role of Online Travel Reviews

Wijaya et al. (2013) external factors that might influence the visitor dining experience with local food in the destination: food quality food cultural-related physical aspect social aspect

Emerging trend within User Generated Contents (UGCs)UGCs contribute to the image of related businesses and destinations, and eventually to their reputation, and are used more and more by travelers planning their future vacations. (Cantoni & Tardini, 2009; Fuchs, Ricci, & Cantoni, 2012; Cantoni & Xiang, 2013; Marchiori & Cantoni, 2012)

Recent study: on 440 pictures about Switzerland, published by Chinese tourists on the Chinese social network Sina Weibo in one full year (July 2011-June 2012), has revealed that images of food ranked number seven.(Hu, Kalbaska, & Cantoni, 2013)

Methodology

Sample from: www.agriturismo.it 1,710 OTR have been randomly selected,

written by tourists in Italian (598), in English (573), and in German (539) about agritourism businesses in 94 different Italian provinces, distributed over all regions.

A content analysis has been performed in order to identify the dominant topics and food related topics.

ResultsType of tourist per OTR, out of 1,710 reviewsType of tourist* IT EN DECouple 36.7% 38.4% 52.7%Family with children 35.3% 39.3% 32.7%Group of friends 6.0% 5.1% 3.3%Single 2.0% 2.1% 1.9%Biker .8% 1.1% 3.0%Big group .7% .4% .2%Elderly .7% 2.1% 2.2%Disable .4% 0 0Company group .2% .4% 0.0%Student .1% 1.4% .6%Independent traveler 0 6.0% 1.5%

* Tourist categories were provided by the online platform.

Results List of topics present in the OTR

Topics IT EN DEService / staff 96.5 76 79.4Quality of food 60.1 58.1 61.6Description of the guests 56.4 19.4 11.5Length of stay 42.9 34.0 35.6Return planning 36.3 33.0 34.9Relax 33.2 15.7 17.6Description of the agritourism

26.7 27.1 31.0

Quality of the room 26.6 43.5 46.8Panorama 10.6 41.7 35.8Proximity to city 6.3 33.7 25.4View from the room 7.6 28.4 21.5

ResultsExternal food-related factors covered in the online platform  Italian comments German and English

commentsFood quality Ingredients, receipts, handmade

food, biological foodTaste, handmade, quantity

Food cultural-related

Discovery of local tradition Discovery of the Italian food / representation of the agritourism experience.

Animals and farmPhysical aspect

Family/home atmosphere Relax/peaceful atmosphere

Social aspect Friendship with the host Food prepared by the host

Results – Top food related topics

Italian guests tend to comment mainly on the food quality aspect (353 comments out of 598), in particular commenting the ingredients and the receipts experienced

German and English guests tend to be more sensitive to the food-cultural related aspect, underlining how their experience was an occasion to discover the Italian food culture.

Results - Physical aspects

All audiences recognize the characteristics of the Italian agritourism environment: “relax, nature, peaceful atmosphere” Italian guests underlined the feelings of

home/family environment, German and English guests underlined the

idyllic atmosphere.

Results – Social aspect

For German and English audiences (334 and 302 comments respectively), the host represents the mediator towards the quality, and towards cultural issues.

Results – Negative comments

A minority among those analyzed: 156 Italian108 German

278 English

Topics of the negative comments:quality of food, complaining about not fresh or packaged (not hand-made) food, or about the quantity of portions. English guests tend also to complain about the service during their dining experience.

Conclusions

Italian agritourism dining experience:

simple and genuine ingredients, typical of rural environment as opposed to a sophisticated cuisine.

The dining experience is linked with the territory and its history and traditions.

usually cultivated by the owners

Conclusions

“great Italian cuisine” components: food prepared by the host fresh and regional ingredients food is produced directly by the host/farmer or

by farms nearby variety of recipes

the discovery of cultural aspects appeared to be closely connected with the dining experience.

Conclusions

The social aspect combined with the dining experience is therefore a successful attractor for this particular tourism niche in the Italian tourism offer.

The role of the owner:

Implications and future research

- Italian agritourism can jointly investigate the possibility of introducing a clearer promotion of their typical products and meals in order to stress the dining experience

- Investigation on the regional peculiarities emerging from the analyzed online contents

Thank you!lorenzo.cantoni@usi.ch