Creative needs in gastronomy tourism: a segmentation of travellers

Creativity has turned into a resource for innovating gastronomy tourism. Novel culinary options, as well as co-created hands-on activities, have appeared, gaining increasing attention from travellers. The development of such proposals has been recognized as challenging for destinations and suppliers, because of limited knowledge of what tourists seek in terms of creativity. Drawing from existing literature, this paper aims at evaluating to what extent the creative needs (i.e., involvement, learning and interaction) influence travellers’ participation in creative gastronomy activities, and whether a segmentation based on such needs reveals a distinct market segment to pursue. Data were collected through a nationwide survey of Italian travellers. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to create homogenous sub-segments. Findings show that creative needs explain travellers’ choices in the context of gastronomy tourism. Those expressing a high level of involvement, interaction, and learning consume more often not just creative-based proposals, but all gastronomic activities. This group shows omnivore patterns, suggesting that viewing them as a distinct tourism segment is partly inaccurate. Implications for the development of creative gastronomic proposals are presented.