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activities included local food related experiences including visits to local cafés and restaurants, food production or preparation sites, local markets or cooking classes. Activities that involve local food are featured as special attractions in tourist hotels and resorts (Figure 5.25). The most popular event was “Maldivian nights” conducted by 11 resorts, followed by Maldivian buffets by eight resorts, local cooking lessons or classes conducted by six and local theme restaurants at one resort. “Maldivian nights” include local food and cultural entertainment programmes. These dinners are always a buffet and the food is not solely local – some local fare is spread with other types of food (Figure 5.26). Often the highlight of the buffet is a whole grilled or baked fish. The use of other dishes at these dinners limits the use of local products because other dishes require imported products most of which are not locally produced. Although it is common to see food items being prepared on request at the buffet, local food preparation is rarely demonstrated. The only exception could be a barbecue where fish and other sea food may be grilled. The difference between “Maldivian nights” and “Maldivian buffets” is that dinners on “Maldivian nights” are usually followed by a cultural entertainment programme. Dance troupes and music groups that perform cultural items are often hired to perform. As the content and discourse analyses show, events and experiences that involve local food are featured only twice in the marketing materials. The fact that operators’ survey indicates these activities are frequently held at tourist resorts, yet they are not featured in the marketing materials shows the limited focus placed on these activities in terms of overall promotion. Instead of being featured in tourism promotional materials, it was revealed that alternative methods of advertising were used to promote local food in the resorts. The most common mode of supplementary advertising was found to be staff recommendation which is practiced by 58.3% (n=7) businesses. Other methods include food displays in the restaurant (n=6 or 50%) and daily specials (n=5 or 41.7%). 116
Figure 5. 25 Activities featured as special attractions No. of respondents 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Respondents to the expert opinion survey unanimously agreed that at present there is little or no link between local food and tourism, and that for Maldives, culinary tourism is a new concept. They also stated that at the moment the only linkage between tourism and local food is the weekly “Maldivian nights” hosted by a few resorts. One comment read that even these events are rare. The link is minimal. If I am not wrong local cuisine is served once a week in some resorts. However few resorts combine food with local culture and present "Maldivian Night" for their guests. But this is rare. The experts’ survey revealed that thus far there are no well planned programmes to create linkages between local food and tourism. It was also noted that development of culinary tourism is not emphasised in the TTMP. It was noted by an expert that MTPB has been displaying local food in overseas promotional events since 2007. Visitors to these events can watch the preparation of food and enjoy the food as well. While it was suggested that these events should continue, it is not evident that when tourists from the countries where these promotions are held visit Maldives, the local foods that were displayed at the promotional stalls are available for tourists. Maldivian nights Maldivian buffet Cooking lessons/classes Local food related activities It was noted by a policy maker that the first cultural festival designated specially for tourists was to be held in December 2008 in Dhangethi, an inhabited island in Ari Atoll. 117 Local theme restaurant
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The Role of Local Food in Maldives
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CHAPTER FIVE: THE CURRENT ROLE OF F
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Figure 5.26 Buffet dinner .........
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Attestation of authorship “I here
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Abstract In the fiercely competitiv
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1.1 Background to the study CHAPTER
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attractiveness and promoting sustai
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Figure 1. 1 Map of the Republic of
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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW The
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and nationalities are broadened (Sh
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focus on creating “meaningful tou
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quality of their services and produ
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waiting list for future Guggenheim
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Natural and cultural attractions ar
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local culture, built heritage, and
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Although the above inherent charact
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ituals and leisure (Tannahill, 2002
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and participation in the experience
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Cultural exploration is an integral
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2002). As Jones and Jenkins (2002)
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Figure 2. 2 Isle of Arran food trai
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globalisation strong local food ide
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vegetarian pizza outlets are run by
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tradition are made sustainable in t
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tourism” (p. 115). As their examp
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Slow Food Award in 2000 which recog
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eing researched. Although the small
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On the other hand, the focus of the
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A disadvantage of case sstudies is
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1. data triangulation: uses a range
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A number of international organisat
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Content analysis has been a valuabl
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3.6.2 Surveys “A survey is a good
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Table 3. 2 Advantages vantages and
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3.7 Data validity and reliability I
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3.8 Survey characteristics Out of t
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were doing doctoral research that w
Page 75 and 76: was a British protectorate from 188
Page 77 and 78: Figure 4. 2 Population growth rate
Page 79 and 80: 4.3 Economy The Republic of Maldive
Page 81 and 82: 4.4 Agriculture Agriculture plays o
Page 83 and 84: population was badly affected by th
Page 85 and 86: enefits of tourism among all the at
Page 87 and 88: As tourism became established in th
Page 89 and 90: prospect repeatedly proclaimed by e
Page 91 and 92: Table 4. 1 Maldives tourist arrival
Page 93 and 94: Figure 4. 8 Market share of top ten
Page 95 and 96: provided a slow burning barbecue to
Page 97 and 98: Figure 4. 13 Rukuraa and raabadhi S
Page 99 and 100: CHAPTER FIVE: THE CURRENT ROLE OF F
Page 101 and 102: possible” (Sarantakos, 1998, p. 2
Page 103 and 104: Table 5. 3 Frequency of images in p
Page 105 and 106: (Figure 5.3). As Figure 5.4 illustr
Page 107 and 108: Figure 5. 6 Dining experience Sourc
Page 109 and 110: Figure 5. 9 Website with no informa
Page 111 and 112: The description indicates that food
Page 113 and 114: Figure 5. 11 Screw pine Source: Mal
Page 115 and 116: Figure 5. 14 Local ‘tea’ ceremo
Page 117 and 118: Hence, the kind of analysis needed
Page 119 and 120: Figure 5. 18 Barbecue menus Source:
Page 121 and 122: Figure 5. 19 Seafood display Source
Page 123 and 124: Figure 5. 22 Unloading fish to the
Page 125: chefs in our booming tourist indust
Page 129 and 130: Table 5. 5 Importance of using loca
Page 131 and 132: CHAPTER SIX: DEVELOPING LINKS BETWE
Page 133 and 134: Table 6. 3 Number of respondents th
Page 135 and 136: ight quality of products from these
Page 137 and 138: experts, “It is of great potentia
Page 139 and 140: have failed to utilise”. One of t
Page 141 and 142: Figure 6. 1 Number of local and for
Page 143 and 144: local cuisine. This warning echoes
Page 145 and 146: • Since tourism operators and exp
Page 147 and 148: to authentic local foods. In additi
Page 149 and 150: products. This would pave the way f
Page 151 and 152: • Promote Maldives as an environm
Page 153 and 154: Figure 6. 4 Garudhiya bai meal Sour
Page 155 and 156: Figure 6. 7 Canned curries, garudhi
Page 157 and 158: Figure 6. 11 Screw pine fruit and n
Page 159 and 160: Figure 6. 14 Short eats Source: Mal
Page 161 and 162: Figure 6. 16 Smooth loofah, Thoraa
Page 163 and 164: Figure 6. 19 Malaafaiy Source: Leis
Page 165 and 166: Figure 6. 21 Drinks made with local
Page 167 and 168: CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSIONS In an in
Page 169 and 170: list ‘local’ food items were of
Page 171 and 172: apparent from tourism marketing mat
Page 173 and 174: operator” (Omidi, 2009b). Those r
Page 175 and 176: Bibliography ADB. (2005). Country s
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Buhalis, D. (2001). The tourism phe
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Everett, S., & Aitchison, C. (2008)
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Heath, E., & Wall, G. (1992). Marke
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Lutfy, M. I. (1995). Dhivehiraajjeg
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MTCA. (2007b). Tourism Yearbook. Ma
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Ravenscroft, N., & Westering, J. V.
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Sheehan, K. (2001). E-mail survey r
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Veal, A. J. (1997). Research method
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Appendix 1 - Operators’ Questionn
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185
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193
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Appendix 3 - Participant Informatio
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Appendix 4 - Ethics Approval 197
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Committee. Until full approval has
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