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

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But on the other hand, in order to gain popularity in host countries and penetrate their markets, MNCs often conform to local culture (Fayos-Sola & Bueno, 2001). In addition, Seaton and Alford (2001) pointed out that not many tourism organisations are international at the location level. Thus, despite the profuse references in the literature to globalisation of tourism, in most cases tourism is a network of small industries of local origin (Fayos-Sola & Bueno, 2001). Therefore, while Fayos-Sola and Bueno concur that tourism contributes to the diffusion of social and cultural practices by supporting the globalisation process, they dispute that tourism can be declared as among the most globalized of industries. Nonetheless, the weight of evidence points to the standardization of products and services reducing the distinctiveness of destinations (Fields, 2002). Therefore, while the familiarity of Westernized countries may appeal to a certain segment of the market, for many tourists, cultural homogenization and standardization of products and services is likely to reduce the attractiveness of a destination. As a result, Wahab and Cooper (2001) believe that globalisation has the effect of generating an appreciation and awareness of local cultures, and that a trend for ‘localization’ has emerged in parallel to globalisation. Consequently, cultural differences between tourist destinations will be one of the key motivating factors for tourists’ choice of destination. Wahab and Cooper (2001, p. 147) suggest that in order to prevent product standardization and loss of local uniqueness which globalisation can cause, the best way to take advantage of the opportunities that globalisation presents is “to think local and act global”, or to adapt to local requirements while exploiting the benefits of global strategies. Paradoxically, in the increasingly global market for tourist destinations, local uniqueness becomes the “key to their survival and success” (Swarbrooke 2001, p. 181). Askegaard & Kjeldgaard (2007) advised that when the forces of globalisation dissolve the boundaries of local cultures, local businesses can look to the cultural capital of their destination and market its unique attributes to compete with and ‘outlocal’ the international rivals. Ironically, in the quest for uniqueness in promoting tourism, cities and regions often end up creating “serial reproduction of cultural attractions” (Richards & Wilson, 2006, p. 1221). The authors give Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain as an example. Bilbao’s cultural distinction has been denigrated with the establishment of Guggenheim Museums in Las Vegas and Berlin, with Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Edinburgh in the 14
waiting list for future Guggenheim Museum locations. Therefore, the authors suggest the only way to avoid turning culture into a commodity is by applying creativity to the integration of culture and tourism: “It has to involve the creative use of destination assets (inherited, created and creative assets) to provide creative experiences for tourists” (Richards & Wilson, 2006, p. 1221). Heightened competition in the tourism industry will severely affect destinations with undifferentiated products (Sharpley, 1999). Re-examination of the strength of their competitiveness is crucial for all competitors in the tourism industry. Whether their attractiveness is threatened or remains constant, the changing nature of competition will make competitive advantage a necessity in order to keep abreast in the global industry (Crockett & Wood, 2002). According to Ritchie and Crouch (2003) the true competitiveness of a tourism destination is reflected in their capability: …to increase tourism expenditure, to increasingly attract visitors while providing them with satisfying, memorable experiences, and to do so in a profitable way, while enhancing the well-being of destination residents and preserving the natural capital of the destination for future generation. (p. 2). Effective marketing and advertising strategies are equally as important as competitive advantages. With no effective marketing strategies, substitutability will be an imminent threat for destinations with limited attractions (Sharpley, 1999). Demand levels and market trends can be influenced by tour operators’ marketing strategies. Trunfio, Petruzzellis et al. (2006) described tour operators as “one of the most powerful and most influential entities in the tourist industry” because their marketing strategies are focused on sending the most number of tourists to a destination using economies of scale, irrespective of the impact on the destination (p. 427). As a result of this, tour operators’ marketing strategies are believed to hasten destinations’ life cycles (ibid). The notion of a changing tourism destination – moving from an initial small-scale start to large-scale mass tourism – is provided by Butler’s (1980) Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC), a widely used model to study destination growth within the tourism industry (Fig. 2.1). The TALC claims that tourist destinations evolve and change over a period of time due to a number of factors: changes in visitors’ preferences and needs, a decline in facilities and services, and the transformation or disappearance of original attractions (Butler, 2006). Using Plog’s (2001) categorization of travellers as allocentrics, mid- centrics and psychocentrics, Butler (2006) explains that during the discovery phase of a 15
Page 1 and 2: The Role of Local Food in Maldives
Page 3 and 4: CHAPTER FIVE: THE CURRENT ROLE OF F
Page 5 and 6: Figure 5.26 Buffet dinner .........
Page 7 and 8: Attestation of authorship “I here
Page 9 and 10: Abstract In the fiercely competitiv
Page 11 and 12: 1.1 Background to the study CHAPTER
Page 13 and 14: attractiveness and promoting sustai
Page 15 and 16: Figure 1. 1 Map of the Republic of
Page 17 and 18: CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW The
Page 19 and 20: and nationalities are broadened (Sh
Page 21 and 22: focus on creating “meaningful tou
Page 23: quality of their services and produ
Page 27 and 28: Natural and cultural attractions ar
Page 29 and 30: local culture, built heritage, and
Page 31 and 32: Although the above inherent charact
Page 33 and 34: ituals and leisure (Tannahill, 2002
Page 35 and 36: and participation in the experience
Page 37 and 38: Cultural exploration is an integral
Page 39 and 40: 2002). As Jones and Jenkins (2002)
Page 41 and 42: Figure 2. 2 Isle of Arran food trai
Page 43 and 44: globalisation strong local food ide
Page 45 and 46: vegetarian pizza outlets are run by
Page 47 and 48: tradition are made sustainable in t
Page 49 and 50: tourism” (p. 115). As their examp
Page 51 and 52: Slow Food Award in 2000 which recog
Page 53 and 54: eing researched. Although the small
Page 55 and 56: On the other hand, the focus of the
Page 57 and 58: A disadvantage of case sstudies is
Page 59 and 60: 1. data triangulation: uses a range
Page 61 and 62: A number of international organisat
Page 63 and 64: Content analysis has been a valuabl
Page 65 and 66: 3.6.2 Surveys “A survey is a good
Page 67 and 68: Table 3. 2 Advantages vantages and
Page 69 and 70: 3.7 Data validity and reliability I
Page 71 and 72: 3.8 Survey characteristics Out of t
Page 73 and 74: 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
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Figure 5. 18 Barbecue menus Source:
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Figure 5. 19 Seafood display Source
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Figure 5. 22 Unloading fish to the
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chefs in our booming tourist indust
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Figure 5. 25 Activities featured as
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Table 5. 5 Importance of using loca
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CHAPTER SIX: DEVELOPING LINKS BETWE
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Table 6. 3 Number of respondents th
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ight quality of products from these
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experts, “It is of great potentia
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have failed to utilise”. One of t
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Figure 6. 1 Number of local and for
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local cuisine. This warning echoes
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• Since tourism operators and exp
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to authentic local foods. In additi
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products. This would pave the way f
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• Promote Maldives as an environm
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Figure 6. 4 Garudhiya bai meal Sour
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Figure 6. 7 Canned curries, garudhi
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Figure 6. 11 Screw pine fruit and n
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Figure 6. 14 Short eats Source: Mal
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Figure 6. 16 Smooth loofah, Thoraa
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Figure 6. 19 Malaafaiy Source: Leis
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Figure 6. 21 Drinks made with local
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CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSIONS In an in
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list ‘local’ food items were of
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apparent from tourism marketing mat
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operator” (Omidi, 2009b). Those r
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Bibliography ADB. (2005). Country s
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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
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Appendix 1 - Operators’ Questionn
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185
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187
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189
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191
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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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