Produtos Alimentares Locais como Vetores da Experiência Turística: uma revisão da literatura

Abstract

The consumption of local foods can be considered beneficial for the tourist activity development and can attract visitors to a destination, in order to experience tourist and gastronomic experiences. In this context, this article proposes to analyze the scientific production regarding to issues which refer local foods as vectors of the tourist experience, and to identify the main gaps found in these studies, between 2003 and 2019. The studies were selected from the SCOPUS database through the combination of keywords “experienc *” and “local food” and “touris *”. Thus, it was found that local cuisine can be an important income source for tourist destinations, besides representing and transmitting the local culture, providing memorable experiences for tourists. It was also found that the main gaps in the studies relate mainly to methodological issues, suggesting that other studies with different populations and with a larger number of respondents should be carried out, aiming to improve the understanding of emotions caused by consumption of local food (cookery). It is also suggested that qualitative methods should be included, such as interviews with focal groups to complement the information lack in a quantitative survey. Thus, this article presents a systematic review of the available literature on the subject under analysis.