Growing canarium nut agri-businesses in Vanuatu through local food tourism: A field study

Abstract

This paper explores tourists’ motivation and behaviours regarding the purchase of local canarium nut food products while visiting Vanuatu. Specifically, the influence that tourists’ prosocial food motivation (buying local food to assist local people) and in situ promotional activities (being promotions that occur in Vanuatu during tourists’ stay) have on tourists’ self-reported purchase behaviour is investigated. In this field study, trained Ni-Vanuatu enumerators collected quantitative survey responses. Data from this exploratory study (n=61) were analysed using partial least square equation modelling. It was found that that tourists’ prosocial food motivation increases their interest in local food (passive purchase behaviour) while in situ promotional activities lead to tourists actively seeking out local food (active purchasing behaviour). Practical implications are that agri-businesses in Vanuatu will benefit from enhanced branding and labelling of local food products as well as promoting local foods to tourists’ in situ via personal selling and word-of-mouth communication