A Conceptualization of Tourists’ Food Behavior from a Habit Perspective

Abstract

This research aims to conceptually delineate how tourists make food consumption decisions in line with their home habits and why they may or may not follow their habitual trajectory. Grounded in an extensive review of the existing literature, concepts of habit and food behavior are synthesized to outline a series of propositions in explaining tourists’ food behavior from the habit perspective. Subsequently, a conceptual model is proposed for tourists’ food behavior and habits. Habit enacting factors have been identified in explicating the underlying processes through which tourists make food choices in line with their habits. This article highlights how tourists’ food behavior while on a trip can be dependent on their habitual food behavior at home. The findings of this research not only contribute to expanding the understanding regarding characteristics of habitual behavior that have been studied under limited contexts, but also establishes a theoretically valuable extension of prior research on tourists’ food behavior.

1. Introduction

Vacation travel has been recognized as an opportunity for individuals to deviate from their daily burdens and to search for novelty. The physical departure from home to a new environment and the sense of exoticness experienced in the travel destination leads individuals to feel as if they are in a new world. In turn, tourists could alter their behavior during their trip, for example, by being more adventurous and trying new activities [1]. As tourists exhibit new behavior, their overall satisfaction level with their travel, as well as their revisit intention to the destination visited, can be enhanced [2]. In fact, food consumption is one of the tourist activities in which tourists engage in new behavior, including choice of food type and amount eaten. As a case in point, tourists who consume similar food on a daily basis at home could try exotic food that they would otherwise not eat at home. On the other hand, some adhere to their daily dietary practices during their trip. As such, tourists’ food behavior could be driven by whether they depart from or maintain their food behavior at home. However, the majority of existing studies present a myopic view as they claim that tourists’ food behavior is influenced by factors that are exclusive to the travel setting, such as social interaction, cultural learning, and status, without considering the possibility that tourists’ food behavior could be shaped by their daily food behavior [3,4,5].

In line with the proposition that individuals’ food behavior on a trip could be determined by their daily practices, a novel perspective of examining the tourist food experience that is overlooked in the existing literature is understanding tourists’ food behavior in accordance with their habits. Daily activities that are highly repeated are likely to be developed to be one’s habit [6,7]. Food consumption practices tend to be habitual as individuals consume food on a daily basis and, thus, tourists’ eating behavior could be examined in terms of their habit. As a case in point, Chang, Kivela, and Mak [8] found that Chinese tourists follow their food habits at home during their trip. On the other hand, tourists could abandon their habit and exhibit different food behavior from home on a trip. For example, tourists who follow a healthy diet at home could overindulge and consume unhealthy food during their trip. While both scenarios are plausible, the current literature on tourists’ food behavior has failed to take tourists’ daily practices at home into account. Specifically, almost none of the existing research has attempted to understand the triggers of habit activation in tourists’ food behavior.

A limited number of past studies, such as Mak et al. [4], have acknowledged that what shapes tourist food behavior includes not only the contrast dimension (tourists seeking to experience new food that is different from their daily routine), but also the extension dimension (tourists’ food behaviors based on their daily routines). Whilst the work of Mak et al. [4] outlined a conceptual framework of tourist food consumption motivation, few studies, such as the work of Wang, Lehto, and Cai [9], have explored and empirically validated the fact that tourists’ food behavior could differ between the travel and home settings. They assumed that such a discrepancy could be explained through the deviation from one’s habit, but they failed to elucidate the underlying process through which habitual food behavior is retained or changed on a trip.

Despite its importance and the possibility of tourists’ food behavior being influenced by habit, the majority of the existing studies have assumed the antecedents to tourists’ food behavior to be unique to the travel setting, while limited research has attempted to understand tourists’ food behavior by considering their habitual behavior at home [3,4,5]. The current research is motivated by this research gap. This research intended to develop a conceptual understanding of tourists’ food behavior by drawing from the theoretical perspective of habit. Specifically, attention is paid to how one’s food behavior at home may be passed on to the travel setting, and what may be pre-conditions and contextual factors that instigate such “habit-staying” or “change” tendencies are. This research adopted a conceptual approach as its nature in being able to newly define or reconstruct existing concepts into a new one [10] aligns with our research objective to redefine tourists’ food behavior from the habit perspective.

2. Research Design and Methodology

This research adopts a conceptual approach in examining tourists’ food behavior from the habit perspective. Among the major research paradigms, conceptual research could belong to the subjectivist approach, in which it is believed that different meanings are constructed depending on who interprets the phenomenon, rather than there being an objective truth that needs to be identified [11]. In accordance with the nature of conceptual research, which seeks to logically clarify or redefine existing concepts into an unexplored notion [12], this research intended to reinterpret the concept of tourists’ food consumption behavior in terms of habit; such a perspective has not yet been examined in the existing literature.

Among the twelve typologies of conceptual research, as suggested by Xin, Tribe, and Chambers [13], this research was conducted based on “synthesizing concepts”, in which existing concepts regarding habit and food behavior are synthesized to propose a framework regarding tourists’ food behavior from the habitual behavior perspective.

In order to address the research objective, three processes were involved. First, studies on habit and food behavior were reviewed from the existing literature, as outlined in the third section of this paper. Second, propositions to identify the underlying mechanisms that either activate habitual food behavior or maintain habitual food behavior during one’s trip were developed. Along with the literature reviewed in the first step, the synthesis of the literature review is outlined in this part, which was utilized as grounds to support the propositions. Finally, the concepts identified in the research are synthesized and a conceptual framework regarding tourists’ food behavior and habit is outlined.

3. Habit and Food Behavior

Food consumption can be considered to be repetitive and stable on a daily basis. Findings from previous studies, using household panel data in exploring patterns in food purchases, have revealed that most daily food purchases are repeated [14]. This line of literature suggests that individuals display similar food behaviors and consume similar food day by day. While individuals’ daily food behaviors are conceived to be repetitive, research on the question of whether this is true under different contexts and what makes individuals’ food behavior repetitive remains elusive. In addressing this research gap, the literature on habit could lay the groundwork. Habit refers to the propensity to behave repeatedly in a specific way [15]. Daily food behavior shares the characteristic of habit in that it is a repeated behavior. It has been argued that once formed, food habits are likely to be consistent and are reluctant to change [16]. In line with the argument that habits are repeated behaviors activated under “stable contexts” [17], food behaviors that are repeated under a stable context can be regarded as habitual behavior. Specific cues, such as time, location, or other stable contexts, must be present for habits to be automatically activated. Similarly, individuals eat every day, and their daily food consumption occurs under similar contexts (e.g., similar place, mealtime, and meal companion) [18]. Thus, individuals are likely to repeat their food behaviors under the same context in a daily setting.

There have been empirical findings that food behavior is habitual. Neal, Wood, Lally, and Wu [19], for example, found that people who have repeatedly consumed popcorn in a theater while watching movies will still consume their popcorn even when it was stale. This shows that the quality of the popcorn is not as important as the repeated contextual cues that trigger habit. However, while watching music videos in a campus meeting room, the habitual popcorn eaters acted similarly to non-habitual eaters, even when provided with fresh popcorn, eating significantly less than when they were in the theater. With the absence of the repeated context cue (theater) in eating popcorn, less popcorn was eaten, although it was a higher quality popcorn than the one provided in the theater. Such findings emphasize that food behavior can be habitual, particularly under stable physical context cues. Beyond physical context cues, other environmental factors have also been proposed to be influential on fostering habits related to food behavior. As a case in point, obesogenic environments (i.e., economic, political, socio-cultural, and technological contextual characteristics that are conducive to development of obesity) that individuals are repeatedly exposed to tend to be intertwined with unhealthy eating habits [20]. In turn, when individuals encounter such an obesogenic environment, their unhealthy eating habits are activated. However, the contribution from the field of tourism lacks an exploration of the mechanisms that induce tourists’ food behavior on a trip to be either habitual or not.

Although very limited in number, studies such as the work of Wang et al. [9] and Santos et al. [21] have attempted to contrast individuals’ food behavior on a trip with their behavior at home. Wang et al. [9] compared tourists’ food behavior on a trip with their food behavior at home and Santos et al. [21] segmented tourists by their change in eating habits during their trip from their home setting. While both works acknowledge that tourists’ food behavior on a trip can be understood in contrast to their daily practices, they provide insufficient explanation as to why such a difference exists. To elucidate the specific cues and conditions that make tourists’ food behavior either habitual or non-habitual on a trip, the linkage between habit triggers and food behavior will be examined in this research.

Based on the propositions regarding the dynamics of habit keeping and habit change, we argue that individual’s food behavior on a trip could be shaped by habit. We attempt to explicate what specific cues and conditions make tourists’ food behavior either habitual or non-habitual on a trip. Thus, this research intends to outline a conceptual framework that illuminates the underlying mechanism that drives tourist food behavior by applying the notion of habit.

4. Habits, Cues, and Travel Food Behavior

4.1. Habit-Related Factors Influencing Tourists’ Food Behavior

While various factors either activate or change habit, some of these antecedents to the habitual behavior are applicable to tourists’ food behavior. That is, they could be conducive to explaining the linkage between tourists’ food behavior while on a trip and their daily habitual food behavior. Four major antecedents that could either keep habits consistent or change habits regarding individuals’ food behavior will be discussed including contextual cues, time constraints, distraction, and the intensity of one’s goal. Specifically, contextual cues encompass general contextual cues, physical surroundings, social surroundings, and task definition.

4.1.1. Contextual Cues

Specific context cues, such as the time, locations, or other stable contexts, must be present for habitual behaviors to be automatically activated. As Norman and Cooper [22] argued, context stability is the key to the activation of habit. Based on one’s past experience, individuals repeat their behaviors in the same context and their evaluations to change their behavior tend to be ignored in this case. That is, frequently performed behaviors in stable contexts are unlikely to be reconsidered or changed [23]; on the other hand, habits related with that context are broken when that stable context is disrupted [24]. While habits inhibit one from processing external information, changes in context make new behavior-relevant information more salient and influential. In turn, individuals could change their habit based on this external information [25]. As the major difference between the daily and travel setting is the change in context, individuals could deviate from their habit. Each destination is unique in its culture and offerings, suggesting that the contextual cues in a travel setting would differ from tourists’ homes. Without immediate reference to their habit, as well as the ability to process external information under the new context, tourists are likely to change their habitual food behavior. Individuals are also likely to deviate from their daily food behavior on a trip as they tend to seek novelty and anonymity from their trip [26,27]. The phenomenon of tourists being freed while on a trip could be applied to their food behavior. For instance, tourists’ restrained desire for indulging in high-calorie food might be activated in a liminal travel setting. The liminality experienced on a trip enables individuals to experience “a time and place of withdrawal from normal modes of social action” [28] (p. 167). Such a liminal characteristic of the travel environment could prompt tourists to change their habitual food behavior. Whilst an extensive body of evidence finds that contextual cues play a major role in activating or changing habitual behavior, a general consensus indicates that there is not one context cue (e.g., time, place) that is dominant in triggering changes in habit [29]. Rather, it is the specific features of the context cue that are central to the performance of each occasion to stimulate the change [24]. This argument denotes that the habit goes hand in hand with the specific contexts that are tied to it. Therefore, it is proposed that the change in context cue on a trip that can be aligned with the liminal nature of travel prompt individuals to alter their food behavior during their trip from home.

Proposition 1. 

The vacation travel experience that frees tourists from their conventional standards of conduct based on the liminal characteristic of the travel setting will prompt tourists to exhibit different food behavior from home.

Belk’s [30] dimensions of consumer situations help us to better understand the specific context cues under which major situational change or consistency occur while individuals travel. While these five dimensions were initially outlined as situational variables that could explicate consumer behaviors that are consciously carried out, later studies argued that these situational variables could serve as triggers of unconscious consumer behavior [31]. These five dimensions are: physical surroundings, social surroundings, temporal perspective, task definition, and antecedent states. Specifically, this study will discuss three dimensions that are relevant in tourists’ food behavior: physical surroundings, social surroundings, and task definition. The temporal perspective will be discussed in the “time constraints” section as one distinct influencer of habitual behavior. In the literature, this has been discussed as an independent influencer of habit rather than being outlined as a dimension of context cues [17]. Individuals’ mood at the time, as well as their conditions, will not be examined in this paper as they do not align with the factors that impact one’s habitual behavior in the travel context. The antecedent states are highly variable and, therefore, cannot be considered as a stable element that can be generalized across different individuals and settings.

• Physical surroundings

First, “physical surroundings” represent the “geographical and institutional location, decor, sounds, aromas, lighting, weather, and visible configurations of product or other material surrounding the stimulus object” [31] (p. 31). Physical location is one of the most widely discussed contextual cues in the literature that triggers habitual behavior change. In a study conducted by [32], they found that for students who frequently visited sports stadiums, their habit of speaking loudly in the sports stadium manifested more when they were surrounded by a picture of a sports stadium than when they were primed with a kitchen environment. In a tourism setting, different physical surroundings represent the most salient changes in terms of contextual cues. The novel physical contextual cues are shaped by the unique culture of the destination, which is different from the tourists’ home culture. Carr [33] suggested a continuum in which, at one end, tourists’ behaviors are largely dominated by their residual home culture, while at the other end, the tourist culture frees tourists to engage in behaviors that are otherwise repressed at home. When travelling to a physically and culturally distant destination, such as during international trips, tourists are more likely to enter the tourist culture to a greater extent [34]. However, this notion of tourists being disassociated from their routine while travelling has been challenged by other scholars. Lash and Urry [35], for instance, argued that the distinction between the travel setting and one’s daily routine is decreasing, as what was exclusively enjoyed at a specific destination has become easily accessible at home. This argument is particularly salient for travel destinations that are physically and culturally similar to the tourists’ home, such as when travelling domestically. Domestic travel provides similarities that trigger tourists to be influenced more by their residual home culture [33]. This suggests that the physically and culturally similar destination setting is less likely to be perceived as a liminal space. Therefore, tourists are more likely to change their habitual behavior when travelling internationally to a liminal space, as they are submerged by the tourist culture. Hence, we propose the following.

Proposition 2. 

When individuals travel to a physically and culturally distant destination, in which tourists are strongly influenced by tourist culture, they are likely to change their habitual food behavior. On the other hand, if they travel to destinations that are similar to their residential place, their food behavior habits are likely to remain stable.

• Social surroundings

Belk’s second characteristic, “social surroundings”, denotes the characteristics and roles of others who are present at the point of purchase and the interaction with that person. Tourists’ travel companions could possibly be different from whom they usually have meals with at home. Dining with a different meal companion means having to adjust to their needs and wants, which in turn could possibly change one’s daily food behavior while on a trip. This is supported by the argument that individuals’ food behaviors are shaped by the social norm of the group that they dine with [36]. As individuals have an inherent need for affiliation, their food behaviors differ depending on the social norm of the group that they dine with [37]. Thus, tourists are likely to adjust their food behavior to what is socially accepted and prevalent among their travel companions. On the other hand, if tourists’ travel companions are who they usually dine with in a daily setting, such as their family, this consistent social context cue could arouse habitual food behavior. In fact, Suggs et al. [38] empirically verified that children’s eating behavior could change depending on who they consume food with. Therefore, it is proposed that tourists’ food behaviors will differ depending on whether the travel companion that they dine with serve as the habitual context cue or not.

Proposition 3. 

Social companionship on a trip exerts influence on tourists’ food behavior. Tourists are likely to change their usual food behavior when travelling with companions who are not their usual meal companions in a daily setting, whereas they will maintain their habit if they travel with those who they usually have meals with within a daily setting.

Contrary to the above proposition, the presence of familiar social companions could also change tourists’ habitual food behaviors when they intentionally seek a change. Tourists could crave changing their food behavior while on a trip compared to when they are at home (e.g., being more adventurous in trying new food on a trip, whilst valuing health in their food choice at home). In such a case, tourists can change their habitual food behavior with the help of a familiar social companion who comforts them in taking the risk to change. On the other hand, tourists could be resistant to change and seek familiarity in certain aspects of their trip to cope with the difference or strangeness perceived at a destination. While travelling, tourists are only able to embrace the novelty to a certain degree [26]. Tourists are usually only willing to face the strangeness up to a point, where it is not threatening to them. This notion is illustrated in taking package tours with one’s families and friends; travelling as a group that they are familiar with comforts tourists, as the perceived level of risk that tourists experience is reduced compared to when they travel on their own [39]. In line with this notion, making similar food choice decisions and eating what they are familiar with could alleviate their anxieties. Thus, the following proposition is suggested.

Proposition 4. 

For tourists who seek a change to their habitual food behaviors (e.g., shifting towards being more adventurous in trying novel food while travelling), they are more likely to do so when travelling with companions that give them comfort. However, if tourists are not comforted by their travel companions, they are likely to keep their habitual food behavior as a risk reduction strategy.

• Task Definition

Next, Belk proposed that “task definition” explains individuals’ motivation to shop, as well as their role in their purchase. In a food choice setting, the purpose of having meals could be different while on a trip than in their daily food behavior. For instance, whilst food could be perceived as nourishment at home, food in a travel destination could be an enjoyment of exploring new local food. Quan and Wang [40] have categorized tourists’ food experiences into peak touristic experience (food experience as their main activity) and supporting consumer experience (food experience as a peripheral activity). This categorization could be applied to explain habitual food behavior in terms of task definition. That is, tourists’ food choice motivation can be influential in activating their habit in making food choices. As the motivation for having meals in a daily routine tends to be a supporting experience [40], the context cue, in this case the motivation for having meals, would change for tourists who perceive the food experience to be their peak experience while travelling. Therefore, such a change in task definition would trigger tourists to change their habitual behavior.

Proposition 5. 

When individuals’ main motivation to consume food differs in a travel setting from their daily setting, such a contextual cue change would lead to change in their habitual food behavior. However, if their main motivation to consume food is the same as when they are at home, their habitual food behavior will persist.

4.1.2. Time Constraints

The notion of time constraints as a condition that induces individuals to engage in habitual behavior can also explain tourists’ food behavior. Time constraints have been discussed as one of the conditions that prompt individuals to conform to their habit [41]. When individuals are under time constraints, they act habitually to simplify their decision-making process [42]. Whether tourists are under time constraints in their food behavior could be dependent on whether their food choice decision is made prior to their trip, with relatively more time to make decision, or on-site under relatively more time constraints than when making decision in advance at home. Findings from previous studies state that tourists make food decisions in the moment rather than in advance [43,44]. Hyde’s model of a vacation as an “evolving itinerary” suggests that in an independent vacation, individuals enjoy experiencing the unexpected. Therefore, specific elements of their itinerary evolve as they proceed with their trip [44]. This proposition is further supported in the work by Fesenmaier and Jeng [43], in which they have structured vacation decision making into three levels. While tourists do pre-plan their itinerary on their first level decision (e.g., destination), as well as on the second level of decision (e.g., attractions), one of the few elements that are decided as tourists proceed with their trip include their plan for meals. In this case, tourists are more likely to be under time constraints in making their food decisions as it is considered as a peripheral activity that is considered as one of the many things to do on a trip under limited time. However, food tourists who mainly travel for food are likely to plan their food decisions ahead, and their food behavior will be considered as the first or second level decision. In cases where tourists’ main activities are food-related experiences, they would be considerate and take enough time in making their food choice prior to their trip. Furthermore, food tourists tend to seek novelty, indicating that they are likely to make different food choices from when they are at home [45]. By all accounts, when tourists make food choices on-site, they are likely to be under time constraints, which in turn would prompt them to make habitual food choices. On the other hand, if tourists plan what they will eat prior to their trip, they will have enough time for decision making and, therefore, could change their habitual food behavior.

Proposition 6. 

Tourists who make food choices while on a trip are likely to rely on their habit as they would be under time constraints in making their decision. In contrast, food tourists who mainly travel for food are likely to take enough time to plan their eating activities prior to their trip and are therefore more likely to change their habits.

4.1.3. Distraction

Another factor that could be applicable to the activation of habits in terms of tourists’ food behavior is distraction. The literature on the behavioral data and neural imaging states that people tend to rely on habits as distractions occupy the working memory; this distraction selectively diminishes people’s ability to develop and implement alternatives to habit [41,46]. As a result, distracted individuals continue their habitual behavior, which requires little mental effort. Individuals are more likely to be distracted when the action is of little importance to them, while they would pay more attention to actions that are important. Along the same line, whether tourists are distracted or not in making food choices depends on how important the food experience is to them. This importance will be determined by how much the food experience contributes to the benefits tourists seek from their trip. As tourists tend to make rational decisions, they will allocate the time in which they could maximize their gain [47]. Therefore, if the food experience is their peak experience, they will not be distracted by other activities and focus on making the best food choice possible to maximize their satisfaction. Food tourists seeking experiences that are different from their daily routine would focus on planning new food experiences [45]. However, if the food experience is their peripheral experience, tourists will put more weight on other activities and exert less energy on making their food choice. In this case, tourists are distracted by other major activities. Therefore, tourists who treat the food experience as a peripheral experience are likely to manifest habitual food behavior; by contrast, those who prioritize the food experience as a peak experience are prone to change their food behavior from their home practices during their trip.

Proposition 7. 

Tourists for whom the food experience is their main motivation are prone to concentrate on planning novel food experiences as they are able to implement alternatives. On the other hand, tourists who consider the food experience to be their supporting experience will act habitually regarding their food experience as they would be distracted by other tourist activities.

4.1.4. Intensity of Goals

One condition that could influence individuals’ habitual behavior includes the existence of their goals [48]. The behavior that is conducive to achieving one’s goal can be automatically activated without further consideration of other alternatives [49]. The activation of habit in line with one’s goal could be dependent on the intensity of their goal. The basic premise is that when individuals hold a strong goal, the habits associated with the goal will be retained. The intensity of individuals’ goals can be particularly strong when the reward value associated with the goal is recognized. That is, when individuals are aware of the rewarding outcome of achieving the goal, they are likely to adhere to the habitual behavior that is tied to the goal to enjoy the reward [50]. In some cases, individuals’ goals have been argued to interact with contextual cues to activate individuals’ habits. In this goal-directed system, contextual cues remind individuals of their goals, and subsequently, individuals are stimulated to remember the responses that were yielded in the past [51]. However, when individuals are recognizant of the desired outcomes of their behavior, the goal-directed agent performs a given action regardless of the presence or absence of a context cue [52]. Thus, when a person holds a strong goal, they will keep reminding themselves of their goal and its positive consequences to make sure that they maintain the habits linked to their goal [53]. In such a case, without considering alternatives, individuals will keep their self-imposed rules consistent to achieve their goal. On the other hand, if a person does not have a strong goal and is not fully recognizant of the positive consequences of achieving the goal, the habits tied to this goal are less likely to be consistently activated. Therefore, it is posited that individuals’ food behavior could be either habitual or not depending on the strength of the goal they hold.

Proposition 8. 

When tourists hold strong goals that are tied to their habit, they are likely to keep their habitual food behavior if such goals are retained during travel. However, if the strength of their goals is weak, it is less likely that their habits will be activated in consuming food.

4.2. General Food Choice Related Factors Influencing Tourists’ Food Behavior

While antecedents that either keep a habit consistent or change a habit, in general, delineate the processes through which individuals’ habitual food behavior can be interpreted in a travel setting, factors that are specific to food behavior also needs to be understood. Thus, this section will outline two factors specific to food behavior that could affect tourists’ habitual food behavior while on a trip: food personality and food availability.

4.2.1. Food Personality

To better understand how exposure to novel food is associated with individuals’ habitual food behavior, understanding the underlying psychological factors can be helpful. Eertmans, Victoir, Vansant, and Van den Bergh [54] have noted that personality traits are associated with a preference for, and consumption behavior towards, novel food. Food neophobic individuals (those who tend to be reluctant to try new food) look for familiar food, so they tend to make habitual food choices; by contrast, food neophilic individuals (those who are inclined to tasting new food) are willing to take risks in trying novel food and, thus, are more likely to change their habitual food behavior. That is, whether or not tourists would choose to eat novel food could vary by their food personality trait. Neophilic tourists are likely to change their habitual food behavior as they enjoy eating novel food. On the other hand, tourists who are highly food neophobic are more likely to maintain their habitual diet and eat what is familiar. Thus, we propose the following.

Proposition 9. 

Food neophilic tourists are prone to changing their habitual food behavior as they enjoy consuming novel food. On the other hand, tourists who are highly food neophobic are likely to display habitual food behavior.

4.2.2. Food Availability and Familiarity

Tourists’ habitual food behavior while travelling could also depend on the food availability and familiarity. In a daily setting, food availability in regional retail stores has been found to be influential in shaping individuals’ food behavior [55]. As individuals’ habits tend to be formulated based on what is available to them, the food available in the daily settings, such as at school or work, are also crucial in building their habits [56]. In turn, whether the food that is available at home is present at the travel destination could play an important role in enacting their food habits. Lash and Urry [35] delineated tourist experiences to be decreasingly distinctive from one’s daily routine, referring to such phenomena as ‘‘the end of tourism.’’ They reasoned that various tourist activities that were once exclusively available in one destination are now easily accessible worldwide. That is, what is available in the tourist destination can also be found in one’s home environment. In line with this, individuals are now able to enjoy various kinds of ethnic cuisines from all over the world in their home environment [4]. Ryu and Jang [57] argued that as individuals are familiarized with ethnic food following repeated exposure at home, this in turn influences their food behavior. Furthermore, with globalization, tourists’ home food or food they are familiar with, such as franchised fast food, are easily accessible in a travel destination. Therefore, the similar food availability in a travel destination to tourists’ home setting indicates no contextual change in terms of food availability. Subsequently, tourists are likely to follow their ingrained food habit. A decreased sense of novelty would be intensified if the tourists’ familiarity towards signature food of the travel destination is very high, which in turn enhances the chance for tourists to follow their habitual food behavior.

Proposition 10. 

The similarity in food availability in a travel destination to tourists’ home setting would prompt tourists to exhibit habitual food behavior. However, if the food available in the travel destination differs from tourists’ home, this could trigger them to deviate from their habitual food behavior.

4.3. Conceptualization of the Tourists’ Food Behavior and Their Home Habit

Based on the discussion above, it can be contended that tourists’ food behavior could be dependent on the activation of habit at home. The antecedents to change or consistency in habitual food behavior while on a trip outlined in the preceding section are summarized in Figure 1. During one’s trip, tourists either maintain or change their habits, as influenced by the intensity of one’s goal, contextual cues, time constraints, distraction, food availability, and food personality. In this research, these factors are referred to as “Habit Enacting Factors” and are outlined at the center of the diagram in Figure 1. These habit enacting factors could regulate whether habits are enacted in tourists’ food behavior while travelling.

These habit enacting factors could exert diversified forms of influence under varied conditions. Variations could exist as to which of these factors have a dominant impact on tourists’ habitual food behavior. For instance, while physical characteristics of the dining setting could be important for some, others may value their social surroundings, such as who they dine with. In turn, different factors could affect the activation of habitual food behavior. As such, the impact of these habit enacting factors on tourists could vary depending on what each individual perceives to be important. This argument is in line with the claim of the existing studies that attentional mechanisms, which cue individuals pay attention to, determines the arousal of individuals’ habitual behavior and determines the activation of habit in one’s behavior [19]. Moreover, multiple factors could simultaneously enact either change or consistency in habitual food behavior. As a case in point, tourists could maintain their habitual food behavior as they are influenced by two factors, for example, being food neophobic and perceiving that they are constrained by time in making food choice decisions.

Habit enacting factors could also play varied roles, depending on which direction they are activated. These factors exhibit a spectrumal nature that occasions each preservation or change in habitual behavior, as illustrated by the arrows in Figure 1. These factors drive individuals’ habitual behavior in different directions, towards either preservation or change. For example, while “contextual cues” are shared between “habit consistency triggers” and “habit change agents”, when contextual cues change, they play the role of a habit change agent; on the other hand, when contextual cues remain the same, they play the role of habit consistency triggers. In addition, the spectrumal nature of the habit enacting factors means that the degree to which each factor shapes individuals’ habitual food behavior could vary. As a case in point, even among tourists who exhibit personal goals that prompt tourists to act upon their habit, the strength of their dietary goal may differ; for example, an individual with stronger dietary goals are more likely to exhibit habitual food behavior on a trip compared to others for whom the strength of their dietary goal is relatively weaker.

Depending on whether tourists act upon or deviate from their habit at home, in terms of their food behavior, different outcomes are elicited. It should be noted that outcomes can vary by individual characteristics and background, such as by how healthy their eating practices are at home or their food neophobia level. As tourists make food choices according to their home habits, consistency in their habitual food behavior contributes to maintaining a healthy eating lifestyle and a sense of comfort. For health-conscious tourists who follow healthy eating practices at home, preserving their daily food habits will help them to manage their wellness. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle requires individuals to stay on track, including while they are travelling. Keeping up with one’s routine is vital in staying healthy as the habitual behavior is stabilizing [58]. Once individuals break their own healthy rules while travelling, they could find it hard to go back to their healthy habits upon returning home. Such a proposition is supported by the notion of the disinhibition of dietary restraint [59]. Herman and Mack [60] found that dieters aiming to lose weight continued to overindulge on food after consuming milkshake because they perceived their diets to be broken. That is, tourists who overindulge or change their food choices on a trip could continue to abandon their habits when they return home if they perceive that their dietary rules have been ruined during their trip. To prevent this, it is important for tourists to keep their habitual food choices. Furthermore, maintaining one’s diet at home provides individuals with a sense of comfort. As Cohen [26] suggested, individuals are only able to bear novelty to a certain degree. In turn, when tourists encounter foreign aspects of the destination that they are not familiar with, having food that they are comfortable with helps them to reduce any discomfort experienced or the risk they perceive about their travel. In other words, making habitual food choice could be utilized as their risk reduction strategy. By eating what they are familiar with, tourists could possibly be comforted and gain enough power to adventure through other novel aspects of the destination. It should be acknowledged that this effect would be particularly prevalent with tourists with a high food neophobia level who are reluctant to try new food.

On the other hand, tourists also benefit from deviating from their habitual food behavior by gaining novel experiences, knowledge expansion, and new habit formation. As tourists make different food choices from home, they are given the opportunity to have a novel experience. Such new food experiences add excitement to tourists’ trips, as well as helping them to embrace and appreciate new culture [61]. While tourists have an innate desire for seeking novelty in their trip [62], those with a high novelty-seeking level would particularly enjoy contrasting experiences from their home culture. Additionally, tourists are able to expand their knowledge about the destination’s culture, particularly in terms of their cuisine [63]. Tourists could possibly pick up healthy diets, learn about new ingredients or ways of cooking, and could expand their palette of flavors. Altogether, these acquirements could inspire them to boost their creativity in cooking at home. Furthermore, as tourists change their habitual food behavior while on a trip, they could develop a new habit. In fact, travel is a good context in which individuals can pave the way for a new healthy habit. As the context cue is one of the most influential factors in activating habitual behavior, individuals form associations between the context cue and behaviors [64]. Without the normal trigger, the connections individuals form between the context cue and behaviors are broken. This, in turn, can trigger individuals in developing a new healthy habit [24]. To conclude, both the preservation of, and change in, habit of tourists’ food choices could benefit tourists in different ways.

5. Discussion

Food consumption is an essential part of a trip that every tourist engages in. For both tourists and destination marketers, it is important to illuminate how this basic activity is shaped, as this issue is related to how the overall tourist experience is evaluated. While food behavior tends to be a habitual practice that is repeated on a daily basis, the role of habit in determining tourist food behavior is under-represented in the current literature. The essence of habit in understanding tourist food behavior not only lies in their travel experience on-site, but extends to an influence on their wellbeing after returning home. As a case in point, tourists’ healthy habits at home could be broken as they deviate from healthy habits on a trip. Considering the importance of tourists’ food experiences, previous studies have attempted to identify the antecedents to tourists’ food behavior [5,65,66]. However, the research on whether these antecedents are specific to the travel context or if they are reflection of their habit at home remains elusive. To address the gap in the existing literature, this study conceptualized the relationship between habit and travel food behavior, highlighting the stimuli of habitual food behavior. The findings from this study suggests that consistency or inconsistency depends on habit activation and subsequently impacts tourists’ food behavior. First, this study outlined four factors that trigger consistency or change in habitual behavior by synthesizing theoretical insights and findings in the existing literature. From this, it was determined how these factors are aligned with the influencers of habitual food behavior in a travel setting. Additionally, this study recognized the general food choice-related factors that impact habitual food behavior during travel.

The synthesized findings suggest the importance of food in tourists’ experience management, as well as in destination marketing. Managing the food experience is important because it can either brighten or ruin a tourist’s overall experience. The conceptual framework suggests five possible outcomes: a sense of comfort, maintaining a healthy eating lifestyle, new habit formation, novel experience, and knowledge expansion. Keeping with one’s habitual food behavior while travelling could be a good strategy for tourists who are in need of reducing their anxiety on a trip as they adhere to familiar food practices. When tourists maintain their daily healthy diet on a trip, they could enjoy the sense of achievement in resisting temptations. In turn, such a positive emotion could enhance their overall travel satisfaction [67]. If they deviate from their habit, they could perceive that their regular diet pattern is broken, which in turn makes it difficult for them to go back to their regular diet when they return home [59]. Moreover, negative emotions, such as frustration, experienced due to their routine having been ruined could have a negative impact on their travel satisfaction. In conjunction with new habit formation, novel experience, and knowledge expansion, if tourists are inspired by their food experiences and adopt what they have learned while travelling to their own diet at home, this could remind them about the destination. Such a reminder could possibly lead to a future return to the destination or recommendation of the destination to others.

5.1. Theoretical Implications

This research bears valuable theoretical implications. The conceptual framework suggested in this study furthers our understanding of habits in light of individuals’ food behavior on a trip. The existing research regarding habitual behavior has been applied to a restricted scope, including the general consumer behavior context [11,68], whilst the contribution from the various fields of study regarding habitual behavior has been limited. Although some studies have explored how habitual behavior is activated in a specific context, attention has mostly been paid to health behaviors [69,70]. Thus, this study establishes a theoretically meaningful extension of the prior habitual behavior studies by attesting how the notion of habit can be utilized to understand individuals’ behaviors across different contexts.

In addition, the findings of this research provide critical theoretical insights regarding the psychology of habit, which has rarely been considered in the tourism and food setting. Some studies have outlined that individuals’ daily food practices can be habitual, however, most of them have treated habit to merely be a behavior that is repeatedly conducted rather than considering the process of habitual behavior formation [71]. This research fills this void in the existing literature by outlining the various means through which habit can be stimulated and by scrutinizing the essence of habit systematically, rather than regarding habit activation to be solely based on repetition.

Moreover, this study contributes to expanding the current knowledge on the antecedents to habit formation. The existing research on habit has mostly explored whether specific behavior can be perceived to be habitual, rather than attempting to identify the triggers of habitual behavior [72]. Even those few studies that have attempted to identify the triggers of habitual behavior have considered a limited scope of factors to be antecedents to habitual behavior, including general context cues [73]. Although some have attempted to specify which context cues arouse habitual behavior, these studies have mostly been confined to a focus on physical context cues to be the major factor that provokes habit [30]. This study incorporated additional context cues, including social companion and task definition, along with non-contextual cues, such as additional habitual behavior triggers, by integrating the notion of context cues discussed in Belk’s dimensions of consumer situations in identifying triggers of habit. Such an application adds to the collection of habitual behavior stimuli.

The propositions outlined in this study also offer a better understanding of the antecedents to tourists’ food behavior for researchers in the hospitality and tourism field, whilst proposing that to accurately capture how tourists’ food behaviors are shaped, tourists’ home habits need to be taken into consideration. Existing studies have identified various motivational factors regarding tourists’ food choice behavior, such as social factors, sensory appeal, novelty, and cultural experience [65]. However, these motivational factors do not consider the unique nature of food consumption in a travel setting. Moreover, this approach is limiting as attention is solely paid to identifying context-specific behavior in the travel setting, rather than considering the possibility that such a motivation could be shaped by their daily food behavior. Given that habits are formed based on repetition, and because food consumption activity is repeatedly conducted on a daily basis, the consideration of habit could offer a more comprehensive view of tourists’ food behavior. Therefore, the proposition of this research that tourists’ food behavior can be driven by habit not only consolidates the argument of a few existing studies, that tourists’ food practices on a trip could be an extension of their behavior at home [4,8], but also expands our understanding regarding the process through which tourists’ food behavior can be dependent on habit.

5.2. Practical Implications

Practical implications can be drawn from this research for both tourists and destination practitioners. Tourists that seek to maintain their eating practices at home could do so on a trip by considering the habit consistency triggers suggested in this research. For instance, as consistent social surroundings could help individuals to keep their eating behavior consistent, travelling and dining with their usual dining companion, such as their family, could help them to keep up with their habitual diet practice. On the other hand, tourists wishing to deviate from their usual eating patterns on a trip could plan ahead to ensure that they would not make habitual food choices under time-constraints if they are to make food decisions on-site. For destinations, they should recognize the importance of habit in how tourists’ food behavior is shaped and the specific triggers of such habitual food behavior. Thus, marketing activities related to food experiences can be planned and conducted in consideration of habit. For example, if practitioners wish to prompt tourists to deviate from their usual eating practices and try local food, emphasizing the exotic atmospheric cues in dining places could engage tourists to try novel food as they are stimulated to exhibit new food behavior. In contrast, if practitioners hope to motivate tourists to keep their eating behavior consistent to lend them a sense of comfort in the travel destination, they could ensure their food availability in the travel destination is similar to what is available in foreign countries. Additionally, destinations can utilize the findings from this study in promoting their destination. As there could be two different groups of potential tourists, one concerned with keeping up their habitual diet and the other looking for new experiences, destination marketing campaigns should highlight both options on their promotional materials.

5.3. Limitations

Although the implications suggested by this research are critical in expanding the literature on habit and tourists’ food behavior, this study is not free of limitations. First, the factors that influence tourists’ habitual food behavior identified in this study are not intended to be exhaustive. There could be other factors that are a characteristic of a travel setting or elements of a food behavior that can be tied to the habitual behavior triggers. Therefore, future studies should investigate additional factors that could possibly impact habitual food behavior in the general food consumption setting, as well as in a travel setting. Second, while this study treated individuals’ habitual food behavior to be the most repeated daily food behavior, individuals could exhibit more than one habit, for instance, both healthy and non-healthy habits simultaneously, although to a different degree. Future studies could investigate which of the individuals’ habits are activated or changed under what condition (e.g., how a healthy habit or non-healthy habit is activated to a different degree) with their food behavior on a trip. Lastly, while this study only conceptualized a framework for habitual behavior and travel food behavior, future studies could validate the conceptualization outlined in this study through an empirical study, for instance, by survey.