STSM “The influence of attitudes towards healthy eating on food tourism decisions of
German tourists” Scientific Report
The purpose of the STSM was to explore the relationship between healthy eating
attitude and travel eating behaviour of German tourists and compare them to
Taiwanese sample by Chang (2014).
Firstly, the brief literature review was conducted, based majorly on the research by
Chang (2014). The research of this researcher was then used to develop a
questionnaire for the German tourists. The questionnaire was distributed among the
residents of Bad Honnef, Germany. Majorly, the students and staff of the IUBH host
institution were targeted for the reasons of convenience, time saving and easiness of
access. Collected results were input into the SPSS package, analysed and, at the final
stage of the mission, compared to the findings of Chang (2014).
The results suggest that, while attitudes towards healthy eating and travel eating
behaviour of the German tourists may generally be similar to that of Taiwanese tourist
sample of Chang (2014), there were some differences. From the personal profile
perspective, gender affects the attitudes towards healthy eating of both German and
Taiwanese tourists similarly, but age has a stronger impact on Taiwanese tourists
rather than German.
In terms of attitudes towards healthy eating, German tourists are similar to the sample
of Chang (2014) when concerned with avoiding particular foods: both groups who had
a stronger attitude towards avoiding a particular type of food have higher concerns
about the nutrient content of their diet. However, German sample differs from
Taiwanese as German tourists stress the importance of keeping regular hours for meals
every day while Taiwanese tourists may be more concerned with maintaining a healthy
equilibrium.
Focusing on the travel eating behaviour, German tourists are similar to Taiwanese in
their attitude towards novelty and risk avoidance as they stress the importance of such
factors in their trips. However, familiarity is less important for German tourists; they
may welcome unfamiliar foods and cooking methods. In addition, it would appear that
German tourists are less likely to take heathy foods on a trip with them while
Taiwanese tourists would bring such foods with them. However, both tourist groups
would take a first aid kit in case of emergency.
Finally, there are differences and similarities between the two tourist groups when
exploring how their attitudes towards healthy eating affect their travel eating behaviour.
German tourists are similar to Taiwanese tourists in terms of health-consciousness:
tourists from both groups who have high food-related risk concerns and/or regard for
healthy eating practices are more likely to avoid certain food while travelling. However,
it would appear that novelty does not have a strong impact on the German tourists as
it does on Taiwanese tourists in terms of their travel eating behaviour.
A more detailed report of the results is a foreseen publication to result from the STSM.