ABSTRACT
The various crises are having a significant impact on the entire food sector and are changing the attitudes of Europeans as well as policies on the importance of food security and sustainably produced quality and safe food for consumer health. The paper focuses on the consumer's fear of food security for the time of the first wave of COVID-19 and the associated concern for food security in the future and the changes in consumer behaviour. The online survey in Slovenia was conducted in June 2020 using a "snowball" method. The sample included 490 individuals. The results showed that both measured forms of fear (i) fear over food security during the first wave of COVID-19 crisis, and (ii) fear over food security in the future were statistically significant, moderately strong and positively associated with almost all forms of self-perceived behaviour change caused by the COVID-19 crisis. The respondents focused more on buying locally produced and processed food, food stockpiling and decreasing food waste. Only minor changes were expressed with regards to their food purchasing channels, with the elderly, the highly educated and those who classified themselves in a higher social class buying more often directly from farmers. In the future, the results of this research should be compared with other countries and the impact of an individual's economic situation and the impact of promotional campaigns on agricultural products on changing consumer behaviour should also be analysed in more detail.
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Background: The hospitality industry is recovering, evolving, and adapting itself in the post COVID-19 era through innovative and sustainable practices backed by the use of technology in entire hotel operations. The hotel Front Office department is no exception in utilizing these evolved practices to understand and influence the customer behaviour while exploring all possible measures to enhance the overall guest stay experience in the post-COVID times. The Front Office department plays a vital role in the passage of accurate and timely information required for flawless guest management in the hotels. Throughout the COVID-19 period, the Front Office practices have evolved through different stages depending upon the factors such as guest preferences, safety and security measures, hygienic conditions, sustainability and use of technology. Objectives: The major objectives are to study the post COVID-19 Hotel guest preferences of non-star category hotels with respect to changing scenario in the Hospitality Industry, to analyse the gaps between hotel guest expectations and perceptions in service quality with special mention of the front office department and to highlight the future challenges faced by hotel industry and suggest possible measured to overcome these challenges. Methodology: Hybrid research approach has been adopted in this study. Grounded theory in qualitative research approach with interview and semi-structured questionnaires are the data collection tools. Survey method with structured questionnaire are quantitative data collection tools. Collected data were analysed through content and thematic tools for qualitative data and quantitative data were analysed through descriptive statistics (Mean, SD, percentage) and paired t-test as an inferential statistical tool has been applied in this study for conclusion purpose. Results: Result indicates negative as Expected value - perceived value = - (negative). Conclusion: It is concluded that hotel-guests' are not satisfied as provided facilities are not as per guests' expectation. This study gives overview of guests' expectation. It helps hoteliers for modification of hotel's facilities for the guest. The limitation of the study is that the study is conducted in NCR only. Hotels of the same category in the other cities/town may be conducted for getting actual scenario of the phenomena of the hotels. In addition, the study proposes that hotels should adjust their room and service pricing to reflect the reduced demand during the COVID era. Furthermore, the hotel industry will face ongoing challenges, and hotels must be adaptable to remain competitive. By embracing new technologies, providing distinctive experiences, and implementing sustainable practices, hotels can overcome these challenges and flourish in the years ahead.
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Background: At seasonal tourist destinations like Shimla, rooms may remain vacant and unoccupied during lean periods. To add on, pandemic has already shut many small lodging facilities. Background: The aim of this study is to improve our understanding of how homestay activities can contribute to revitalize sustainable tourism trends in Shimla, the study assumes particular importance in a period of economic crisis characterized by post COVID trauma. Methodology: A survey was conducted in Shimla after first wave of corona virus from September 20 to December 20 as soon as the travel restrictions were uplifted. The travel and accommodation preferences of tourists were observed and found to be shifting towards less frequently visited places avoiding mass tourism. To highlight the role of homestays in reviving these tourism trends, three objectives were identified. Two separate questionnaires were developed to get the quantitative and qualitative data for this research. The data was tabulated and evaluated using SPSS tool. Results: The findings presented the analysed profile of the potential homestay operators as well as visitors seeking homestay tourism. It also reports the motivations, expectation and experience of the tourists regarding various aspects of homestay. Conclusion: Homestays can act as potential vital tool in reviving tourism.
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South Carolina livestock producers are expanding their operations to include local meat sales, with a sizeable number of farmers entering the market for the first time. Little is known about South Caro-lina's local meat consumers and their buying pref-erences. This study aims to identify the demo-graphic traits of local meat consumers, their pre-ferred local meat product attributes, their desired purchasing locations, and a range of prices con-sumers are willing to pay for local meat. This study surveyed 1,048 South Carolina meat consumers. Of these survey respondents, 741 had consumed local meat products within the last 12 months and 307 had not. Results indicate that local meat consumers tend to be younger, reside in larger households, have higher household incomes, and have greater educational attainment. They also may be more likely to be long-term residents of South Carolina. These consumers are willing to pay a 1% to 24% premium for local meats to be eaten at home and US$1.00 to US$1.99 more per entree for local meats at a restaurant. The most desirable attributes of local meat are hormone-free, all-natural, no anti-biotics, and grass-fed. The most popular buying locations are the grocery store, directly from farms, farmers markets, butcher shops, and online order-ing. Most consumers are unwilling to drive more than 20 miles (32 km) to purchase local meat. The study also uncovered barriers to consumers' will-ingness to purchase (or purchase more) local meats: product unavailability, high prices, food safety concerns, convenience, and ease of prepara-tion.
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The research aimed to explore preferences regarding the selection of collective consumption, with attention being given to the following three research constructs: the attractiveness of collective consumption, economic determinants for using the offer of food services, as well as social and cultural determinants for consumer behaviours on the food services market. The research was conducted through a direct channel, using a questionnaire prepared to this end. The research process, during which primary data was gathered, comprised the following three stages: qualitative research, quantitative pilot research and proper quantitative research. The proper quantitative research covered a representative random sample of 2,102 Poles aged above 18. The article presents the results of research carried out to examine preferences regarding the use of food services provided by restaurants and attempts to categorise consumers of food services into segments. Empirical material was gathered and analysed to identify five consumer segments. The data obtained not only supplements existing research by providing up-to-date pandemic-related information on changing preferences on the food services market and gives restaurant owners (restaurateurs) guidance on designing food product architecture for individual consumer segments, but also provides a starting point for research hypotheses that can be formulated in future scientific research.
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The literature on cruise tourism is primarily Western-focused, which could differ compared to those in Asia Pacific. To address this gap, this study combines motivation and cruise preferences for a better understanding of repeated Chinese cruisers amid COVID-19 via the use of conjoint and cluster analysis. The findings revealed that shore activity is more important than cabin price and duration. Sight-seeing is the most strongly preferred shore excursion, followed by visiting natural scenery. This study contributes by providing insight into the current views of the Chinese travel market, and provides suggestions to cruise companies on target segments, product design, and marketing strategies in preparation for travel recovery.
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More than two years after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, tourism remains one of the most affected economic sectors. The present work aims to address, on the one hand, the impact of the health crisis on the behavior of consumers in the choice of tourist services, as well as to identify the methods by which these changes in behavior can positively influence the development of the rural tourism sector. Beyond momentary measures, we should look ahead to the future of tourism and identify ways to develop a more resilient and sustainable tourism offer. The experience gained during the health crisis will certainly help us anticipate new trends and consumption patterns. It should be mentioned that in order to benefit from this chance, integrated efforts must be made by all actors involved in the rural tourism sector, so that potential tourists can be guaranteed unforgettable experiences.
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The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically lowered the foodservice industry's income overnight. Conversely, the practical measure of remaining at home to deal with the pandemic's impact has boosted the online food delivery business. In this study, a consumer perspective was adopted and an adapted version of the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) was used alongside multi-attribute decision-making methods (DEMATEL, DANP and modified VIKOR) to construct a model for evaluating and selecting a food delivery platform (FDP). The results of the INRM (influential network relation map) revealed that the first dimension to be improved upon and adjusted should be security, followed by effort expectancy, performance expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation and habit. The DANP influential weights suggested that habits were the most important dimension, followed by hedonic motivation, while performance expectancy was the least important. According to the results of the gap analysis, the first dimension that required improvement was performance expectancy, followed by effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, security, social influence, habits and hedonic motivation. It is expected that the findings of this study can serve as a reference for consumers selecting FDPs to better satisfy their dining needs. The novel model is discussed in terms of theoretical, practical and managerial implications. © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the preference criteria for purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables (FFV) and for where FFV is sold according to thesocio-economic characteristic of consumers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: In order to meet the above objective, an online survey was conducted. A sample of 720 respondents was selected from the residents of all cities in Turkey using the snowball method, which is one of the non-probability sampling methods. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were used to examine the statistical relationship between socio-economic characteristics and preference criteria.
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The aim of the study is to investigate the food safety perception of consumers during and after the covid 19 pandemic. Surveys were administered to a total of 1000 people from all regions of Turkey via the internet. The survey data were defined as frequency and percentage, and analyzed by nonparametric test methods for dependent and independent groups. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that the knowledge and awareness levels of consumers about food safety are generally high, and that there are significant differences according to education, age and region. It was observed that the participants did not differ much between their food preferences before and during COVID-19, but they were more careful about health and packaging safety. In other words, the anxiety level of the participants increased during COVID-19. In addition, it was found that with the increasing of education level and age, the awareness and knowledge of the food preferences of the participants also increased. As another factor affecting consumer behavior, the result of the anxiety level measurement that can be evaluated within the scope of perceived risk, it was determined that 76.4% of the participants would prefer more packaged food products during and during the pandemic period. The results of the study support that consumers' preferences in situations of uncertainty are shaped according to their risk perceptions and there is an increase in their anxiety levels. [ FROM AUTHOR]
ABSTRACT
This study examined monthly retail-level price premiums for grass-fed beef (relative to conventional grain-fed beef) in the United States from 2014 through 2021. We found that premiums were heterogeneous, with premium cuts, such as sirloin steak, tenderloin, ribeye and filet mignon enjoying the highest premiums. Premiums were not consistent with price levels, as the lowest premiums were observed for short ribs, skirt steak and flank steak. Our findings suggest that grass-fed beef price premiums were negatively affected by the consumption of food away from home. Changes in income, increased information about taste, protein and minerals, fat, revocation of the USDA grass-fed certification program in 2016 and COVID-19 pandemic, also affected premiums for several individual cuts. Premiums were not sensitive to changes in information about climate change. [EconLit Citations: Q11, Q13].
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This article discussed some of the dairy products that will be out in the market after the Covid-19 pandemic among these products are comfort foods such as cheddar and milk chocolate, dairy products for weight management such as less sugar yoghurt, and low-fat flavoured milk, premium cheeses for at-home entertaining such as gourmet cheese, and lastly the high protein dairy beverage.
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The fresh-cut sector has shown a positive trend in recent years, due to the "ease of use" and the increasing innovation in the quality and safety features of these products. However, in Italy, a negative trend was observed during the lockdown Covid-19. The objective of this study is to investigate consumer preferences for fresh-cut products and to identify the sensory and extrinsic attributes that influence consumer choice. It also examines whether consumer behaviour has changed during the lockdown Covid-19. An online questionnaire was administered to a convenience sample of 427 consumers. A one-way ANOVA was conducted to identify preferences for specific types of fresh-cut products;then, a factor analysis was conducted to highlight key socioeconomic variables and product attributes. Finally, a cluster analysis was conducted to identify homogeneous consumer groups. The results indicate that some attributes, including "ease of use", "texture" and "colour" show a high level of interest and appreciation by consumers. The outcomes also reveal that there has been a change in consumer attitudes during the lockdown Covid-19, mainly for reasons related to the difficulty in food procurement, the fear of contagion during purchasing occasion, and higher prices. The findings of this research contribute to the knowledge of consumers' behaviour towards fresh-cut products in the period of lockdown Covid-19.
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Four studies from the 29th Annual Conference of the Italian Association of Agri-Food Economics are presented. These studies analyse the Italian agri-food system from four different angles: the circular economy, retailer supply of sustainable food, food consumer preferences, and transaction costs. They are complementary in dealing with sustainability and the COVID-19 impact on the agri-food supply chain, and offer interesting new perspectives on these topics.
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Since the 1990s, food safety has caused widespread concern from all walks of life. According to the theory of bibliometrics and scientific knowledge map and knowledge mining method, this paper quantitatively analyzed and visualized 3024 food safety papers and 31032 references in the core collection of Web of Science (WoS) to explore their research status, topic evolution and development trend. The number of academic papers in the field of international food safety increased by 11 times during the past 31 years;the knowledge structure of this field consists of foodborne pathogenic bacteria, food safety cognition, public health and food safety management;its research topics showed an evolution from consumer behavior and food-borne diseases to food safety risk management, food safety governance, food traceability system, food testing, to food global value chain, heavy metal excess, pesticide residues, food safety culture, to blockchain technology, Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, food fraud;food safety knowledge and willingness to pay premium, food contamination, aquatic seafood safety, vegetable safety, blockchain, COVID-19 represent the frontier trends, so as to provide references for academic research and government supervision in this field.
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The aims of this study are to determine if CAM use has potential to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use and support the global efforts against antimicrobial resistance, and to ensure that antimicrobials and other conventional treatment approaches are used where appropriate. 20 farms with a range of management systems, herd sizes and production goals were recruited to this study. Interviews were conducted with 24 farmers through a mixture of face-to-face, telephone and videoconferencing modalities necessitated by movement restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, 16 farms were visited to collect ethnographic participant observational data using ethnographic fieldnotes and photographs. Interviews were conducted using a topic guide and explored participants' experience of CAM, including drivers/barriers to CAM use, experiences of CAM use and how CAM might influence the use of conventional medicine such as antibiotics. Early findings indicate several drivers for UK dairy farmers to use CAM approaches, including their own personal [or friends' and relations'] experiences, the views of influential people and advisors, networks within the farming community and the fact that CAM use allows a greater sense of autonomy in health-based decision making. Farmers often refer to milk buyers and organic guidelines as factors which influence their use of CAM. They further refer to a desire to 'do something' for the animal and to minimise animal welfare related concerns. A range of CAM information sources were also consulted by farmers including, holistic health management organisations/courses, online materials, and pharmacies. Participating farmers associate the use of CAM approaches with other holistic health management practices, human-animal interactions, the actual character and physical characteristics of an animal and animal welfare. This indicates that CAM use is seen by farmers as part of a wider ethos and belief about holistic farming practices and land use. Additionally, data implies that some farmers value their positive personal experiences of CAM use over scientific evidence. In contrast, barriers to CAM use were also identified including: the perception that CAM approaches are reserved specifically for organic systems, little access to CAM and related resources and some existing tensions between farmers and other stakeholders' views. Early findings suggest that farmers are influenced in their use of CAM by a range of individuals within the agriculture community, including veterinary surgeons (some of whom use homeopathic practices), mainstream farming press and pro-CAM organisations and advisors.
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With its high population and high rate of young population, Turkey has an important potential in the field of consumer electronics. During the COVID-19 pandemic period, individuals' purchasing power decreased due to economic contractions in every country and individuals showed a more frugal attitude. This study aims to evaluate the Turkish smartphone market and understand the consumer preferences toward smartphones during the pandemic. For this purpose, a conjoint analysis was conducted by obtaining data from 452 respondents who were asked to evaluate products according to their brand, price, second-hand value, camera quality, and storage capacity. As a result of the analysis, it was revealed that the brand, price, and camera features had the highest utility scores reflecting the preferences of the Turkish consumers. Moreover, Chinese and Turkish brands were found to still hold a disadvantageous position in consumer perceptions having negative utility scores.
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The purpose of this research is to analyze recreational forest visitors' behavior and to estimate public benefit from forest roads, which play various and positive roles, such as open green space, timber production, forest management, and forest fire prevention. A DBCV (double bounded contingent valuation) onsite survey was conducted nationwide from July 20th~August 7th in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis result of 500 respondents proves that the improvement of accessibility for forest users and the provision of recreation opportunities and recreational facilities through forest road development (both in quality and quantity) substantially affects forest users' economic welfare in recreational forests (RF). Also, the survey result shows 4.6 visits within 3 years for forest scenery and refreshment with family. About 60% of the respondents recognize the importance of forest roads within recreational forests and about 80% represent a positive response to the contribution of recreational forest roads. The WTP (willingness to pay) of the respondents through the logit model applied is estimated at KRW 1,803.04 per person/visit for a year and the result of benefit expansion based on the WTP estimation is calculated to be KRW 43.24 billion. Hence, the result shows that increasing forest road quality and quantity within the RF contributes to forest users' economic welfare in terms of forest recreational satisfaction. It will be the fundamental data on economic analysis related to forest-road construction plans and forest policies reflecting the increasing demand of consumers based on their preference.
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During the years of 2015-2016 in Greece, an increase of imports of poultry meat has been occurred on a level of 10.2%, whereas in the years of 2018-2019 the increase has only reached the level of 1.9%. On the contrary, a reduction on a level of 14.2% on poultry meat imports, in Greece, between the years of 2019-2020 have shown the possible implications of the COVID-19 pandemic to poultry meat consumption and possibly to chicken meat consumption. Moreover, the Food related lifestyle (FRL) can be defined as a system of consumers' cognitive categories and relationships that connect a set of food-related behaviours, with a set of personal values of each consumer. Hence, this paper aims to segment Greek consumers according to their food-related lifestyles values and is tried to identify the aspects that may determine consumers' behaviour towards chicken meat preference, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Four consumer segments appeared: "Sociable and safety seekers", "Light concerned and cooks", "Unconcerned and price seekers", "Innovative and moderate concerned". Uni- and multivariate statistical techniques have been used. Consumers' profiles that demonst-rated different food-related attitudes towards the pandemic were analysed with the use of variables: gender, age, marital status, educational level, monthly income and chicken meat quality cues. Significant differences were found between the four segments in terms of gender, age and income. Moreover, "Light concerned and cooks" and "Innovative and moderate concerned" consumers revealed to consider the place of purchasing as a dominant extrinsic quality cue of chicken meat. Furthermore, these consumers appeared to trust butcher in terms of the safety of chicken meat that they purchased, whereas only the consumers of the segment of "Light concerned and cooks" showed a willingness to pay a higher amount for chicken meat that is produced by animal welfare standards.
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Embrapa Gado de Leite/Centro de Inteligencia do Leite carried out a survey to assess the behaviour of Brazilian consumers of milk and dairy products during the Covid-19 pandemic, considering household consumption. It was shown that long-life milk was not the most important dairy product in the Brazilian shopping basket. Despite being present in more than 90% of Brazilian homes, other dairy products, especially cheeses, are gaining consumer preference. Data from market consultants showed that this sales channel had the highest growth during the first months of the pandemic. The majority of survey respondents said they maintained or even increased the consumption of dairy products. Data from consulting market confirmed the survey results, reporting increases in sale of dairy products during the first half of 2020. The survey results also showed consumption patterns by income classes and regions of Brazil, showing the complexity of the national dairy market. In the case of income, the higher percentage of consumption stability in the lower income classes was high. Regarding the most important factor at the time of purchase of dairy products, the price was more considered by the higher income classes, and low prices and the brand by higher-income consumers. In the case of regions, differences were also evidenced in the maintenance of consumption of products, with powdered milk having a higher percentage of stability in the northeast and north, as well as the importance of price and brand in the purchase decision, in which the price prevailed more in the northeast than in other regions. In conclusion, income, rather than price, is the determining factor of dairy consumption in Brazil.