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

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Discourse analysis is defined by Brown and Yule (2003) as “the analysis of language in use” (p. 1). Discourse analysis encompasses “knowledge about language beyond the word, clause, phrase and sentence” (Paltridge, 2006, p. 2). The concept of content is more extensive in discourse analysis than it is in content analysis, hence discourse analysis is able to provide a more sensitive and in-depth analysis than content analysis (Wood & Kroger, 2000). Pritchard and Morgan (2001) used content and discourse analysis of tourist brochures to identify how the identity of Wales is represented by Welsh tourism marketing bodies. Ateljevic and Doorne (2002) used discourse analysis to examine images used in tourism marketing of New Zealand. Their study revealed political processes behind the social and cultural messages represented in the marketing imagery. A similar study was conducted by Mellinger (1994) who analysed tourist postcards used in America. By applying discourse analysis to the photographic postcards, Mellinger was able to identify hidden racist images of African–Americans. Using content and discourse analyses, Norton (1996) investigated how tourism marketing in East Africa represented its culture and nature, and how these images were interpreted by tourists. Discourse analysis helps identify themes or lack of themes. An important consideration in discourse analysis is the attention paid to the absence of themes. The absence of themes, instead of being considered as irrelevant, is viewed in discourse analysis as possibilities (Potter & Wetherell, 1987). Therefore, lack of themes can be seen as a powerful tool in investigating hidden messages in tourism information texts and images, particularly advertising and promotion material. Hannam and Knox (2005) elaborated on the use of discourse analysis: Increasing numbers of researchers in the field of tourism studies are using discourse analysis as a means of critical investigation when faced with qualitative or textual forms of data, such as written documents, or visual materials such as photographs and brochures. Such data is often representative of how a group of people have made sense of and reflected on their own world and that of others. (p. 23) Substantiating content analysis with discourse analysis in this research assisted in identifying the core themes related to food that were presented in the materials and thus answer the research aims and objectives. Discourse analysis was particularly useful in understanding the extent to which local culture and the environment were represented in relation to food in the marketing materials. 54
3.6.2 Surveys “A survey is a good way, often the only way, of getting a picture of the current state of a group” (Janes, 1999, p. 321). Furthermore, it is the “most important source of information for tourism analysis” (Smith, 1995, cited in Finn et al., 2000, p. 86). Surveys follow a deductive approach, which means that the research “begins with a theoretical or applied research problem and ends with empirical measurement and data analysis” (Neuman, 2003, p. 267). The findings from this survey will be used to draw conclusions on the extent local food is used in tourism marketing and development by Maldives tourism operators. Two surveys were conducted to gain a clearer picture of the ways in which local food is used by tourism establishments and in tourism promotions and to review the validity of the findings from the content and discourse analysis. One survey focused on the resort operators and sought mainly quantitative data. The other survey was aimed at finding opinions of experts in the field of Maldivian tourism and was of a qualitative nature. The results of the surveys were compared with the findings from the content and discourse analyses to reveal the extent to which local food is used in tourism marketing. Qualitative responses from the operators’ survey and the results from the expert opinion survey were analysed to find out the potential for local food to be linked into tourism and used as a tourism marketing and development tool. The type of surveys and the instruments utilized are discussed in the following sections. The surveys conducted among tourism operators used probability sampling. Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2000, p. 153) elaborate on probability sampling: Probability sampling is most commonly associated with survey-based research where you need to make inferences from your sample about a population to answer your research question(s) or to meet your objectives. (p. 153) The most important feature of probability sampling is that the sample is representative of the population (Saunders et al., 2000). The target population for the first set of questionnaires was resort operators in the Maldives. The sampling frame was selected from the database of MTCA that listed hotel and resort operators in the Maldives. All 84 resorts that were in operation in June 2008 were included in the sample frame. 55
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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
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 and 24: quality of their services and produ
Page 25 and 26: waiting list for future Guggenheim
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
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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
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
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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
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Page 113 and 114: 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
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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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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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