The Role of Local Food in Maldives Tourism - Scholarly Commons ...
The Role of Local Food in Maldives Tourism - Scholarly Commons ...
The Role of Local Food in Maldives Tourism - Scholarly Commons ...
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Table 6. 1 Effect <strong>of</strong> us<strong>in</strong>g local food on image <strong>of</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess<br />
N Mean<br />
Frequency scale<br />
Very negative Very positive<br />
<strong>The</strong> overall responses also suggest a will<strong>in</strong>gness among operators to <strong>in</strong>crease use <strong>of</strong><br />
local food, and as suggested by an operator, “this is someth<strong>in</strong>g that we have to th<strong>in</strong>k<br />
(about) <strong>in</strong> the tourism <strong>in</strong>dustry”. Even though at present most <strong>of</strong> the food used by tourist<br />
resorts is imported, a large majority <strong>of</strong> operators (n=10 or 83.3%) believed that food<br />
imports would decrease if more local food could be used <strong>in</strong> tourist resorts and hotels.<br />
<strong>The</strong> expert survey also suggests that tourism <strong>in</strong>dustry needs to make use <strong>of</strong> more locally<br />
produced fruits, vegetables, salad greens and varieties <strong>of</strong> fish. It was also revealed that<br />
operators do not believe that the price <strong>of</strong> local food is high compared to imported food.<br />
Us<strong>in</strong>g a seven-po<strong>in</strong>t likert scale (1 is much lower, 7 is much higher), operators were<br />
asked to <strong>in</strong>dicate the price <strong>of</strong> local food compared to that <strong>of</strong> imported food. S<strong>in</strong>ce the<br />
mean score <strong>of</strong> the responses is 4 (Table 6.2), it is an <strong>in</strong>dication that the price <strong>of</strong> local<br />
food is considered neither much lower nor much higher than imported food.<br />
Table 6. 2 Price <strong>of</strong> local and imported food<br />
1 2 3 4 5 6 7<br />
12 5.7 - - 1 3 3 3 2<br />
N Mean<br />
Frequency scale<br />
Much lower Much higher<br />
than imported than imported<br />
1 2 3 4 5 6 7<br />
12 4 - 1 3 4 3 1 -<br />
<strong>The</strong> research revealed that fishermen are the only local food suppliers that all <strong>of</strong> the<br />
respondents work with (see Table 6.3). Given that fish and seafood are the only local<br />
food that appeared to be promoted <strong>in</strong> the market<strong>in</strong>g materials, the association <strong>of</strong><br />
fishermen and tourism establishments can be expected. Other local suppliers that<br />
tourism operators mostly worked with are fruit growers (n=10 or 83%) and farmers<br />
(n=6 or 50%). Fewer operators worked with coconut growers (n=3 or 25%), snack<br />
suppliers (n=2 or 16.7%) and mar<strong>in</strong>e farmers (n=1 or 8.3%). ‘Other’ was marked by one<br />
respondent which was specified as local fish distributors.<br />
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