Designing a Food Tourism Development Model in Iran Using Grounded Theory

Considering the changing interest of tourists towards acquiring authentic cultural experiences and the increasing importance of emerging types of tourism, such as food tourism, the present study has been conducted to design a model for the development of food tourism in Iran.

Design/methodology/approach: 

The current research is an exploratory, developmental study using a qualitative method and grounded theory approach. The statistical population consists of experts and practitioners in the country's public and private tourism sectors, of which 19 people were selected according to the rule of theoretical saturation using purposeful and snowball sampling methods, and semi-structured individual interviews have been used to gather the data needed.

After analyzing the interviews, 94 concepts (final code) were identified, which were classified into six categories: causal factors (economic factors, competitive factors and factors related to demand), central phenomenon (tangible Items and intangible Items), contextual condition (infrastructural factors and cultural factors), intervening condition (internal factors and external factors), strategies (related to products and services, related to marketing and advertising, related to infrastructure development and related to human resources) and consequences (economic, socio-cultural and competitive).

The results show that the development of food tourism in Iran should be considered from different dimensions and aspects, and it is necessary to consider all the mechanisms influencing this process in planning and policy-making.

Originality/value: 

The current research has a holistic approach to food tourism development and has investigated the effective mechanisms in developing this type of tourism from different aspects.