Toward an integrated model of visitor's food nostalgia and gender difference: a festival context

Abstract

This study aims to build and test a theoretical model of tourist nostalgia (nostalgia proneness and food nostalgia) and seeks to explore the gender differences regarding how tourists feel their nostalgia towards food, and if it impacts in the global experience of the event. Survey data were collected in a gastronomic event, from 400 visitors. Two research models grounded on gender—female and male—highlighted the predictive role of food. Surprisingly, the all-purpose nostalgic proneness construct had a very limited impact. The newly developed construct (food nostalgia) was able to capture complex multidimensional visitor’s experiences in both male and female models, whereas the broadspectrum measure of nostalgia expressed a higher propensity of nostalgia feeling among men. The managerial implications comprise market segmentation strategy, the definition of specific nostalgia triggers associated with traditional food as attributes to promote the event, and a festivalscape environment designed to express those triggers.