Location

5A - Management Issues

Start Date

30-6-2017 9:30 AM

End Date

30-6-2017 11:00 AM

Description

Religious beliefs are a basic parameter of culture that affects all aspects of a person’s life and consequently his eating habits. The diet of tourists at destination is an essential and unique component of the overall tourism product and the momentum of the modern dietary concept is enormous. Eating habits determined by the religious beliefs of tourists and followed during their journey and their stay in the selected destination is an important and emerging sector in tourism industry. The case study and the research concern the island of Mykonos, Greece. It is characterized as a “cosmopolitan” tourist destination, known for its “night life” and the opportunity of “getting away from every day’s routine life), that attracts tourists mainly from Europe and the rest of the world.

The research was conducted from August 24th to October 10th 2014. This primary and quantitative survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire distributed to tourists with different religious beliefs in six different areas of the island. The questionnaire consisted of 30 different questions was distributed to 140 tourists, but finally 122 of them responded to the survey. The results of the survey show that the island of Mykonos attracts a “special” type of tourists, who do not want to follow the specific diet of their religion. According to the results, the overwhelming majority of tourists choose traditional recipes and the Greek cuisine regardless of religious beliefs and dietary restrictions or particularities, giving the impression that during their holidays want to escape from their daily eating habits and enjoy the Greek gastronomy. Most of them stated, that the religion does not play any role in the selection of Mykonos as a journey destination and do not associate the religion with holidays and eating habits.

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Jun 30th, 9:30 AM Jun 30th, 11:00 AM

The religious beliefs as parameter of food choices at tourist destination The case of Mykonos

5A - Management Issues

Religious beliefs are a basic parameter of culture that affects all aspects of a person’s life and consequently his eating habits. The diet of tourists at destination is an essential and unique component of the overall tourism product and the momentum of the modern dietary concept is enormous. Eating habits determined by the religious beliefs of tourists and followed during their journey and their stay in the selected destination is an important and emerging sector in tourism industry. The case study and the research concern the island of Mykonos, Greece. It is characterized as a “cosmopolitan” tourist destination, known for its “night life” and the opportunity of “getting away from every day’s routine life), that attracts tourists mainly from Europe and the rest of the world.

The research was conducted from August 24th to October 10th 2014. This primary and quantitative survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire distributed to tourists with different religious beliefs in six different areas of the island. The questionnaire consisted of 30 different questions was distributed to 140 tourists, but finally 122 of them responded to the survey. The results of the survey show that the island of Mykonos attracts a “special” type of tourists, who do not want to follow the specific diet of their religion. According to the results, the overwhelming majority of tourists choose traditional recipes and the Greek cuisine regardless of religious beliefs and dietary restrictions or particularities, giving the impression that during their holidays want to escape from their daily eating habits and enjoy the Greek gastronomy. Most of them stated, that the religion does not play any role in the selection of Mykonos as a journey destination and do not associate the religion with holidays and eating habits.