Purpose: Food and tourism have a very close relation and food can be considered an essential tourism resource. This research is focused on the analysis of consumers' and tourists' food buying behaviours. The aim of this paper is to understand the value that can be generated by linking a typical food product to the region of origin/producer/certification. In particular, we tested the hypothesis that these elements (region of origin, producer and certification) have a different weight for consumers living in different places. Moreover, the research aims at segmenting typical food product consumers, to enable producers and tourism operators to achieve communication goals effectively. Methodology: The paper is based on an empirical survey of locals and visitors that considers the case of Fontina cheese, a typical Italian cheese. Findings: The research reveals that the origin of the product is, generally, more valued than protected designation of origin (PDO) certification. The perceived value of these attributes is then found to vary according to the distance between the region of origin of the product and consumers' residence. In particular, the importance of PDO certification for consumers increases with increasing distance from the region of origin of Fontina cheese. PDO is thus valued more by tourists than by locals. Originality/value: The analysis supports and builds on previous studies on the importance of PDO certification (Bruwer and Johnson 2010;Dimara and Skuras 2005). Importantly, this work contributes by eliciting consumers' preferences for PDO according to territorial differences.

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Service bundling helps tourism organizations develop competitiveness. Cooperation within destinations builds service bundles and positively impacts image. This paper aims to shed light on the role of trust in cooperation among tourism operators in place branding strategy and investigates the impact of perceived benefits achievable through service bundling on hoteliers' orientation to networking, that is, willingness to cooperate with restaurants, theme parks, spas, and so on. A survey of 164 hoteliers finds that trust in other tourism operators mediates the impact of perceived relational benefits on networking orientation. Operators' innovativeness mediates the relationship between perceived economic benefits and networking orientation.

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Lo scopo del lavoro consiste nell'analisi delle scelte di consumo in presenza di determinati set informativi, con particolare attenzione rivolta all'influenza esercitata dalla presenza delle certificazioni di origine sulle decisioni di acquisto. Dall'analisi empirica condotta in riferimento al consumo della Fontina, č emerso come la certificazione DOP abbia un peso rilevante nelle scelte di acquisto. Inoltre, l'analisi quantifica l'incremento di prezzo che i consumatori sono disposti a pagare per la presenza di tale certificazione. I risultati evidenziano, infine, l'esistenza di differenze territoriali nella diversa importanza che tale caratteristica riveste in funzione della residenza degli intervistati, a testimonianza della differenza di segnale di garanzia di qualitÀ ricercato nelle diverse aree geografiche.