Influence of Thai Street Food Quality, Price, and Involvement on Traveler Behavioral Intention: Exploring Cultural Difference (Eastern versus Western).

Introduction: Gastronomy tourism has become a phenomenal trend of the global tourism industry in the 21st century. As the tourism industry and its related foodservice businesses flourish, street food has received increasing popularity with its combination of local delights and the cultural value of the destination. This study examined the psychology of street food consumption and assessed the effect of street food quality that is represented by the cultural experience, health and safety of the food, food sensory appeal, staff service, physical environment, the meal menus with perceived reasonable prices, involvement in Thai street food, and repurchase intention from an international tourist perspective. Methods: A survey method along with a quantitative structural analysis was used. Results: The findings revealed that Thai street food quality positively and significantly predicted the international tourists' perceived reasonable prices, involvement, and repurchase decisions. Perceived reasonable prices and involvement were found to be important mediators between Thai street food quality and repurchase intentions. Moreover, this research identified the significant moderating role of Eastern and Western cultures.

Cruise ship dining experiencescape: The perspective of female cruise travelers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cruise dining experience is one of the core elements of the overall cruise travel experience as guests fulfill their cognitive and affective needs in this pleasant environment. Nonetheless, the cruise dining experience has been sparsely researched. There is also no holistic model conceptualizing the cruise ship dining experiencescape. This study explores how under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, cruise ship dining environment stimuli dimensions are evaluated by female cruise travelers. Female travelers are the major spenders and travel decision-makers. They are also the dominant customer group in the cruise sector. Their perception of cruise ship dining environment is leading to their positive emotional responses and approach behavior. More precisely, this study demonstrates the potency of the moderating role of a perceived health risk from COVID-19, which strengthens female travelers' perceptions of the dining atmosphere and interaction with other guests by evoking positive emotions and influencing their approach behavior.

Customer Restaurant Choice: An Empirical Analysis of Restaurant Types and Eating-out Occasions.

This study investigated restaurant customers' perceived importance of key factors in accordance with dining occasions and restaurant segments. Our investigation into restaurant selection and situational factors present two types of empirical evidence regarding customers' choice of restaurant. First, menu price was customers' top priority in restaurant selections for full-service, quick-casual, and quick-service restaurants. Second, restaurant customers rated the importance level of restaurant selection criteria differently according to eating-out occasions. The importance of menu price was greatest for both quick meal/convenience and social occasion, brand reputation was the most important factor for business necessity, and word-of-mouth recommendation was greatest for celebration.

The Post-Coronavirus World in the International Tourism Industry: Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Safer Destination Choices in the Case of US Outbound Tourism.

The tourism industry has been seriously suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis ever since its outbreak. Given this pandemic situation, the major aim of this study is to develop a conceptual framework that clearly explains the US international tourists' post-pandemic travel behaviors by expanding the theory of planned behavior (TPB). By utilizing a quantitative process, the TPB was successfully broadened by incorporating the travelers' perceived knowledge of COVID-19, and it has been deepened by integrating the psychological risk. Our theoretical framework sufficiently accounted for the US tourists' post-pandemic travel intentions for safer international destinations. In addition, the perceived knowledge of COVID-19 contributed to boosting the prediction power for the intentions. The associations among the subjective norm, the attitude, and the intentions are under the significant influence of the tourists' psychological risks regarding international traveling. The comparative criticality of the subjective norm is found. Overall, the findings of this study considerably enhanced our understanding of US overseas tourists' post-pandemic travel decision-making processes and behaviors.

Hedonic and Utilitarian Performances as Determinants of Mental Health and Pro-Social Behaviors among Volunteer Tourists.

International volunteer tourism is an emerging and sustainable trend of the global tourism industry. In this study, we attempted to provide a clear comprehension of volunteer tourists' mental health increase and pro-social intention formation. A survey method and quantitative approach were used. Our result from the structural analysis showed that hedonic and utilitarian performances, mental health, and volunteer tourism engagement had significant associations and that these relationships contributed to improving pro-social intention. In addition, results from the metric invariance assessment revealed that the volunteer tourism engagement and pro-social intention relation was under the significant influence of problem awareness and ascribed responsibility. Mental health and engagement acted as significant mediators. The comparative importance of volunteer tourism engagement was uncovered. Overall, our results provided a sufficient understanding of volunteer tourists' pro-social decision-making process and behaviors.