The Future Of Entomotourism: The Sustainable Bugs Appetite

Abstract

Food tourism gained its popularity due to people preference on travelling to a certain location for attending food festivals or sampling various delicacies. Such phenomenon promoted entomotourism especially on food and eco-tourism sector that emphasize the traditional values such as cultural and traditional respect, authenticity, and sustainability. The study aims to investigate the motivational factors which affect the domestic tourists in experiencing entomotourism particularly in searching for insect-based product during their travel. However, there is still a paucity of empirical research on edible insects, aimed towards domestic tourists, thus giving this study academic significance by closing knowledge gaps in the specific area of edible insect consumption acceptance and motivation among tourists to promote entomotourism as a form of unique gastronomy experience. Quantitative analysis was implemented to achieve the research objectives where a sample size of 240 respondents was collected in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Structural Equation Method was then used to validate each construct to find the factors that contribute to the tourist’s behaviour. The study provides a summary of core motivators characterizing the acceptance and consumer intention to search for insect-based food during their travel. This paper has the potential to generate societal benefits (food security), environmental (sustainable production methods and reduce in meat consumption) and health (nutritious). Furthermore, the result will help the agri-entrepreneur in producing, developing, and marketing edible insects-based products as a potential tourist attraction and a new marketing platform for food tourism in Malaysia. Keywords: Consumer Behavior, Edible Insects, Entomotourism, Entomophagy, Food Tourism

Keywords

• Consumer Behavior
• Edible Insects
• Entomotourism
• Entomophagy
• Food Tourism