The Role of Local Food in Maldives Tourism - Scholarly Commons ...

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Most operators are willing to use more local food which they agreed would reduce food imports. Reducing food imports is also needed to revive the demand for local products. As a consequence of heavy reliance on imported products, demand for many traditional products and ingredients has waned. A large number of expatriates are employed as chefs in the tourism sector with a ratio of three foreign chefs for every two local chefs employed in tourism establishments. The head chefs of six out of eleven respondent resorts are also foreigners. Due to the influence of the head chefs in menu creation, their experience and knowledge in local food will play a key role in the amount of local food being used in tourist establishments. Hence, the dominant role of foreign chefs was identified as a potential obstacle in linking local food and tourism. However, industry experts cautioned that developing local skilled labour will not be an easy task because culinary professions are often looked down on by the society. Although tourism operators perceive that there is strong interest from tourists for local food, the success of the current branding makes tourism operators and promoters oblivious to the benefits of linking local food and tourism. However, operators agreed that if local food is to be used in marketing and promotion it would provide positive impacts on the image of their businesses. This finding reflects the observation made by Henchion and McIntyre (2000) that local food enhances the image of tourist destinations. However, at present local food is not used to any major extent either in marketing Maldives tourism or enhancing the tourism experience. Tourism operators and experts agreed that linking local food and tourism holds potential benefits for tourism and other economic sectors as well as local communities. However, findings from both the operator and expert surveys provide evidence that there are currently very limited linkages between local food and tourism. The one- island-one-resort concept adopted in tourism development in the Maldives restricts tourism multiplier effects and the distribution of tourism benefits among local communities. In addition, culinary activities and events as well as local markets that provide interactions with local communities are not promoted in tourism marketing. Although operators have stated that tourists are interested in visiting local communities and experiencing local culture, opportunities for tourists to take part in these events do not exist since all tourist activities take place in the tourist resort ‘enclaves’. This is 160
apparent from tourism marketing materials where it was found that such activities are absent in tourism marketing. Tourism operators and experts that were surveyed in this research expressed that culture and tradition is largely neglected in Maldives’ tourism promotion. They strongly believed that local food is an important part of local culture as well as an important tool that can promote culture and tradition. Although, TTMP emphasise the promotion of culture and tradition, the role of local food is not included in the Plan. This study has established that Maldivian cuisine embodies a wealth of foods, events and experiences that has the potential to provide an enriching tourism experience. It was recommended by operators and experts that local food should be better linked to tourism in order to fill the void created by lack of cultural aspects in tourism. Operators and key players from the tourism industry that participated in this study have ascertained that local food is an integral part of culture, hence linking local food and tourism promotes culture and tradition. Many of those surveyed, including policy makers suggested that Maldives tourism needs to broaden the tourism product line beyond sun, sand and sea. Tourism based on these undifferentiated environmental features makes Maldives vulnerable to threats of substitutability from destinations with similar products. Experts also noted that Maldives tourism is in need of more tourist experiences and activities. It was suggested that portraying local ways of life through these activities was important as at present such opportunities do not exist. Tourism industry experts proposed that introducing local food to potential tourists is the key to motivate tourists to experience local food once they arrive in Maldives. But opportunities for potential tourists to experience local food are rare. Hence, wider use of local food in overseas promotional fairs and exhibitions is important to provide potential tourists the chance to experience local food. The high ratio of food imports compared to domestic production makes Maldives’ economy susceptible to external shocks as was acknowledged by MPND (2007b). Excessive dependence on a particular economic sector is also cautioned as a contributing factor to social disharmony that can impede sustainable development (Sönmez, 2002). 161
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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
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was a British protectorate from 188
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Figure 4. 2 Population growth rate
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4.3 Economy The Republic of Maldive
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4.4 Agriculture Agriculture plays o
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population was badly affected by th
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enefits of tourism among all the at
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As tourism became established in th
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prospect repeatedly proclaimed by e
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Table 4. 1 Maldives tourist arrival
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Figure 4. 8 Market share of top ten
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provided a slow burning barbecue to
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Figure 4. 13 Rukuraa and raabadhi S
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CHAPTER FIVE: THE CURRENT ROLE OF F
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possible” (Sarantakos, 1998, p. 2
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Table 5. 3 Frequency of images in p
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(Figure 5.3). As Figure 5.4 illustr
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Figure 5. 6 Dining experience Sourc
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Figure 5. 9 Website with no informa
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The description indicates that food
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Figure 5. 11 Screw pine Source: Mal
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Figure 5. 14 Local ‘tea’ ceremo
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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 and 126: chefs in our booming tourist indust
Page 127 and 128: Figure 5. 25 Activities featured as
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
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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: list ‘local’ food items were of
Page 173 and 174: operator” (Omidi, 2009b). Those r
Page 175 and 176: Bibliography ADB. (2005). Country s
Page 177 and 178: Buhalis, D. (2001). The tourism phe
Page 179 and 180: Everett, S., & Aitchison, C. (2008)
Page 181 and 182: Heath, E., & Wall, G. (1992). Marke
Page 183 and 184: Lutfy, M. I. (1995). Dhivehiraajjeg
Page 185 and 186: MTCA. (2007b). Tourism Yearbook. Ma
Page 187 and 188: Ravenscroft, N., & Westering, J. V.
Page 189 and 190: Sheehan, K. (2001). E-mail survey r
Page 191 and 192: Veal, A. J. (1997). Research method
Page 193 and 194: Appendix 1 - Operators’ Questionn
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Page 205 and 206: Appendix 3 - Participant Informatio
Page 207 and 208: Appendix 4 - Ethics Approval 197
Page 209: Committee. Until full approval has
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