The attractiveness of food tours in Singapore

Abstract

Being an acclaimed global culinary capital, Singapore’s cuisines are viewed as a prime example of the diversity of the rich local ethnic culture. The heartland food tour industry has sprouted as some tour operators and hostel owners are seeing an increasing demand from international visitors for a more authentic experience of Singapore. We recognised this ‘fusion’ tourism product - of food, history and culture - as an interesting new direction that the Singapore tourism industry is leaning towards. There is much potential for the development of food tours in Singapore, especially as tourists today are more discerning and demand local experiences at their vacation destinations.

This study thus aims to identify the concerns of tourists when dining overseas and establish the most important factor that attracts tourists to join food tours, ultimately determining the viability and potential of food tours in Singapore. A total of 173 person-administered questionnaires were used for the analysis and results showed that tourist’s perception of Singapore food, expected tour experience and perceived value of tour have significant importance to the attractiveness of food tours. In particular, tourist’s perception of Singapore food has the greatest effect on the attractiveness of food tour.

These findings are valuable to existing and potential food tour organisers, as they can leverage on the findings and enhance their tour offerings to attract even more tourists in the long run.