The travel and leisure industry is one that is rapidly growing and constantly extending in the 21st century. There appears to be a rise in the amount of people visiting and discovering all the wonders this world has to offer. According to articles published by the entire world Tourism Corporation (UNWTO) in Sept of last year, the International Travel and leisure percentage grew by almost 5 percent in the first six months of 2011 and this exceeded the 6. 6 percent progress difference for the reason that of 2010. This article goes on to say that this expansion in travel and leisure in such times needs to be evaluated and looked tightly and they need that countries make travel and leisure as a priority in national level policies. There are numerous terms to specifically define tourism but on the whole and simple conditions; tourism is the experience of a person travelling in one location to another for not more than a year. To add to this, tourism can be split into numerous branches, for example, excursion tourism, sports travel and leisure, medical travel and leisure, leisure tourism and many more. However, with this development in tourism, there's a new aspect of travel and leisure that is little by little making its tag which is known as Food Travel and leisure. Food travel and leisure simple means the work of people going to a specific place for the purpose of partaking in food celebrations, or trying out of different food and restaurants in that particular country (Hall and Mitchell 2001). This new aspect of travel and leisure was never famous but with the aid of new technologies, increase in accessibility and consciousness, food travel and leisure is slowly but surely rising. In Malaysia, this aspect of tourism is increasing with more plus more tourist travelling to Malaysia for reasons other than leisure and this in exchange has reflected the neighborhood economy of this country. Malaysia, being a country that is rich and diverse in its culture and traditions, has become an ideal place for traveler not only to go through the lifestyle and culture but to also partake with the local lifestyle and one of these to do so is by exceptional food. There were many makes an attempt by the relevant industries in Malaysia to promote this progress of food tourism to make it an ultimate vacation spot for food fans about the world. This paper will put together an detailed look at the meaning and meaning of food tourism, and how this aspect of tourism is on the rise within Malaysia and how this development has results on the tourism sector of this country.
1. 1 Research Objectives
The tourism sector is getting into a new stage in present times. There are plenty of new aspects of tourism that is increasing, namely, heritage travel and leisure, medical tourism, excursion tourism and now, food tourism. Gastronomic Tourism (as it is known medically) or Food tourism is defined as the stop by at a specific place for the purpose of food festivals, or even to try and experiment different types of foods and restaurants (Hall, Sharples and Mitchell 2001). In Malaysia, food travel and leisure is increasing as there are more visitor visiting Malaysia for reasons apart from leisure. This country has become a leading holiday destination among tourist all over the place with the blend of the three different races (Malay, Chinese language and Indian) and the cultures these three races offer. Not only that, the location and climate of this country being warm and tropical year round adds to the many reasons to go to this country. While using mixture of different civilizations and traditions, the delivery of different foods packages Malaysia apart from every other country allowing it to turn into a food lover's paradise. According to an article by the news headlines Straits Time paper in Sept 2010, it says that Malaysia has been positioned as the 9th most travelled holiday destination with around 23. 65 million traveler which research was done by the US World Tourism Business. The article moves on to say that potential vacationer browsing Malaysia will spend around RM10. 13 billion on food and beverage. The tourism ministry in Malaysia is focusing on making food as you of the primary choices for vacationer to go to Malaysia and there have been on-going initiatives being done by the relevant people to help ensure that this aspect of travel and leisure continues to grow and in time is able to sustain its own self. The goals this research newspaper aims to accomplish are:
To format the expansion of food tourism in Malaysia
As said before, Malaysia has managed to gain the upper submit becoming one of the travel and leisure destination spots. There are so a lot of things that this country is able to offer and food is one of them. However, this facet of food tourism is not well known yet in Malaysia as there have been more studies and analysis carried out in other countries (Fox, 2007; Kivela and Crotts, 2006; Ryu and Jang, 2006); but the over the past years, the market leaders and relevant get-togethers have begun to recognise how Malaysia and its own food can influence and has an effect on the travel and leisure industry. Findings out of this research will show how there has been a change in the growth of food travel and leisure in Malaysia and how this development has impacted the local travel and leisure industry.
How this growth has led to negative and positive effects on the country
Growth in virtually any form is good and healthy but with development there comes positive and negative influences and these influences must be examined clearly to avoid any form of issue and to arrange for future goals. This newspaper will outline the way the development in food tourism in Malaysia has led to a few negative and positive impacts and exactly how these effects can be interpreted to support and ensure this aspect of tourism is growing.
How this expansion has influenced the tourism sector and the initiatives taken to ensure continuous progress in the future
The travel and leisure sector in Malaysia has been booming within the last couple of years and food travel and leisure is even more so growing. In the latter part of the research, it will summarize how this food tourism growth has had a direct effect on the travel and leisure industry both positive and negative and how the federal government and the tourism sector attended up with methods to sustain this progress and ensure ongoing growth in the foreseeable future.
1. 2 Need for the study
The Kuala Lumpur tourism industry has seen a significant growth over the past couple of years with the amount of international visitor arrivals growing up to 0. 6% in 2011 compared to the previous years. Among the major motivations for vacationer to go to Malaysia is because of the culture and heritage that Malaysia possesses and this is expressed in our food and local delicacies. People from other parts of the world are eager to know, learn and know how is it that people with different races are able to live under one roof covering and allow their civilizations to blend jointly. When people visit Kuala Lumpur, they are simply immediately tossed into a cultural explosion and one of the ways they are able to experience and learn about the different ethnicities is thorough the tasting and partaking of the local food.
The main relevance and importance in executing this research is that, there appears to be a growing pandemic in the food tourism sector. There's been a switch in the factors that influence the main reason vacationer visit Kuala Lumpur, and food happens to one of the reason. There have not been many past researches and literature issue about the expansion of food tourism in Kuala Lumpur as the majority of them are general and give and overview. This is why this research is important because this paper is able to highlight the progress of food tourism in Kuala Lumpur and exactly how tourist have transformed their motivational factors to visit Malaysia.
1. 3 Limitation of study
The restriction of the study is the fact, it is merely focused and limited to food and the role it performs in the visitor decision making process. Other affects such as ethnical, or traditions or personal reasons to visit are minor and they'll not be concentrated much on. The other limitation to this research is the fact, the questionnaires will be clarified by tourist rather than local people because this newspaper aims to study the traveler reasons to visit Malaysia and does indeed food play a role in their decision. The condition to that restriction is usually that the tourists are spread all around the location so to target a large quantity and acquire different feedback, will be a challenge.
The other restriction which will be faced is that this research is merely limited to the Kuala Lumpur surroundings and the vacationer that stay with this area. This is because almost all of the tourists that happen to be Malaysia stay within the city center and almost all of the sights and local food are available within metropolis limits. Besides that, by narrowing it right down to just this area, there will be a better and clearer understanding of the objective that has been achieved.
1. 4 Research Questions
This paper seeks to summarize the expansion of the meals travel and leisure industry in Malaysia and how will it influence the travel and leisure sector of Malaysia. When coping with this subject, there are many questions that will occur and it is through the results of the questionnaires and other literature findings that these questions will be clarified.
The first question that will happen while doing research upon this topic is the fact, when and how did this growth in food travel and leisure happen in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia? This newspaper will determine how food tourism arrived to the field in Kuala Lumpur and how has it been since it began. The next question that should be responded to in this research paper is the effects these growths in food tourism have on the travel and leisure sector in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In any form of growth, there will be certain effects both positive and negative and this newspaper will aim to outline those influences and how they affect the local tourism sector. Another question that will occur while conducting research on this paper is, will there be another for the meals tourism industry of course, if so, how will it be? That's where the question of sustainability will arise whereby, even though there's a growth in the meals travel and leisure industry now, will it still be the same in the future? Each one of these questions will be replied in the second option part of the research paper.
Chapter 2 : Literature Review
Malaysia is gradually rising to become one of the key destination areas among traveler worldwide. That is largely due to the fact that Malaysia is a country that is developed, diverse, exotic and rich in its culture and traditions which is found in the original dances, values, food, practices and many more. In addition, food tourism is slowly but surely on the rise within this country. With all the blend of the many cultures and values, food seems to be the best expression. When debating about food travel and leisure and its progress here in Malaysia, there must be a separation to be able to gain a much better understanding. There should be a clear meaning of food, travel and leisure, food and travel and leisure in Malaysia and exactly how it comes with an impact on the local travel and leisure sector.
2. 1 What's Food?
What is food? This may be a straightforward question yet, it takes on a large importance inside our lifestyle. Food is simply defined as a nutritious chemical that people drink or eat in order to keep up a wholesome life and growth. Food can be an essential item to be able to keep with life. The first and main need for food inside our everyday life is to provide our body with the required energy for us to handle our daily routines such as working, walking, inhaling, digesting and so on. Besides that, food really helps to regulate your body's processes and also to help fight against infections and diseases. In basic understanding, food is merely needed in order to live on and carry on with life; however, there has been significant amounts of change in the evolution of food.
2. 2 What's tourism?
Tourism can be an industry that is rapidly growing in the 21st century. More and more people are developing a pastime in going and exploring everything the world provides. However, many fail to really understand the real meaning of travel and leisure and what it really comprises of. Tourism is said to be the act of individuals or an organization of people that lead them from one place to another, from one country to a new country, to perform something specific or to visit a place for the point of leisure, entertainment, business and so forth. The World Travel and leisure Organization defines tourism as the actions undertaken by and specific or several individuals that travel and move from their usual host to comfort and environment which has to be more than a period of 24 hours or more. The reasons behind their travel can be because of leisure, entertainment, business and other activities that will vary off their daily routines. Travel and leisure on the other palm can likewise incorporate the relevant businesses or establishments that get excited about providing services, activities, and facilities to the visitor that happen to be their country
Tourism in virtually any country is important and essential. For countries like Egypt, America, Australia, Italy, Malaysia, India and China, a sizable part of their income and income be based upon the travel and leisure industry. Tourism is important because, it stimulates monetary progress for a country. When people happen to be a specific place, they are bound to put in large sums of money on the flight, lodging, domestic travel and food in the particular country they may be in. When you spend profit a country, it in exchange helps the financial growth for that country because the amount of money spent there goes to help out and cover the price of development and in the sustaining of the country and its own people. The next importance of travel and leisure to a country is the fact that it helps to promote development within that country. Countries throughout the world constantly strive to develop and become in the front lines in conditions of development. Travel and leisure is an industry that functions as a motivational factor for development that occurs. When there's a demand and a rise in the amount of tourist that travel to a country, the necessity for new and modern facilities and activities will rise which is where in fact the country is able to collect its resources and develop the united states so that it is able to cater to this growing demand. For instance, Bangkok, Thailand has seen a significant increase in its international vacationer entrance and the tourism industry has seen this happening and there has been an increase in the quantity of lodging facilities to help cater to this demand. They may have built new hotels and guesthouse that are modern, clean and affordable for the growing vacationer market. Another importance of travel and leisure to a country is the fact that in terms of sociocultural, it can help to create new job opportunities and profession potential clients for the local people of that country. When you can find any form of development in the united states, there will be new facilities and activities to help cater to the demand that keeps growing so when there are new facilities and trends taking place, the necessity for man power and job opportunities will arise and this is where the country can use the citizens of the united states to help ensure that these innovations in the travel and leisure facilities and activities are suffered for years to come.
2. 2. 1 Travel and leisure and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The tourism industry in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is speedily growing in these present times. The tourism industry has authorized 11. 63 million holiday arrivals in the first half the year 2012 which is a 2. 4% increase compared to the same period in 2011. This development in travel and leisure in Kuala Lumpur is basically due to the fact that, Malaysia is found in such an excellent location whereby the weather and environment of the country is tropical the complete year around with reduced rain which makes it easy to bypass and explore the city. Besides that, Malaysia in itself is a country that is diverse and abundant with its culture and heritage and this is expressed in our daily routines, local destinations, food and beliefs and this offers us a top hand because no other country in the world can boast and say they have 3 different races (Malays, Chinese language and Indians) living under one rooftop also to add, we are all able to go along. This is something that international tourist find amazing and they are intrigued by and that's the reason they would like to visit Kuala Lumpur.
2. 3 What is Food tourism all about?
There a wide range of branches to the travel and leisure industry and food tourism is another aspect of tourism that is on the rise. Many people may claim and debate that food and travel and leisure have no romantic relationship to one another what so ever but in certainty, food and tourism coexist and help one another because part of tourism is largely related to food and vice versa. One may check out food as a minor role played in the field of tourism however in fact, food is essential to ensure the full circle of an traveller's experience. Hall and Sharples (2003) say that food can be an integral area of the experience and how it added in a big sense to someone's vacation. They go on to say that before, food had not been taken into consideration as something that is important but of late it's been greatly debated about. The reserve says that food acts as a manifestation of identification and culture which is in reality true. When travelling to another country, is motivated to immerse themselves in the neighborhood culture of this place and subsequently this calls for food. For example, it might be absurd if one journeys to India and encounters the various civilizations without tasting their local food. As stated, tasting and immersing in the local delicacies will help give a much better understanding about the country and its culture. Over time, the reputation of food tourism has increased and it is seen as a valuable advantage the tourism sector provides. Even if there are a few barriers because of some traveler that aren't attracted by the neighborhood food, it still symbolizes a vital and competitive edge for some spots (Cohen and Avieli, 2004).
2. 3. 1 Tourism Drive: Is food one of it?
In basic travelling, there should be somewhat of the motivational factor that causes people to travel to that particular place. In her publication, Travel and leisure Development (A K Bhatia 1985), she broke down the basic motivational factors for visiting into four different aspects:
Physical Motivators - This is related to the physical aspect of the destination, the activities offered yet others.
Cultural Motivators - Individuals in this category are determined by the values and cultural heritage (the art, music and party) that one vacation spot offers.
Interpersonal Motivators - This motivation is to visit family members, relatives, or to meet new people.
Status Motivators - That is derived from the need to attain certain activities to improve home -esteem or for personal development.
These however will be the basic motivators for going but these motivators change when talking about visiting for food based mostly purposes. Going for food centered purposes can be linked to the ethnic motivators (as seen above) or it can be classified as different aspect all alone. The motivator for food travel and leisure can be linked to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow 1943). Within this hierarchy, there are 5 different degrees of needs that should be accomplished and they're physiological, safeness, love, and esteem. For instance, if a person is lacking love or food or safe practices, they would probably yearn for food the most because the truth is, food is needed to endure and the other needs come over time. But the real question that is to be asked here is that, is food the primary motivation for ones decision in travelling? Are they travelling to fulfil their desires and needs? Or are they travelling to immerse themselves in different cultures? Or even are they adventure seekers plus they want to try new things? Relating to Sajna (2005) she conjured up 4 different concepts as to the reasons people participate in food tourism, namely:
Food Neophobia - This is related to how adventurous and available some may be to seeking new foods. Relating to Pliner and Hobden (1992), food neophobia is a personal trait defined as the reluctance to consume or avoid novel foods.
Variety- Seeking Propensity - This is related to ones desire to have variety that is due to factors such as change in flavour, constraints and feasible alternatives.
Hedonic Usage - An element of consumer behavior that relate to the multisensory, fantasy, and emotive areas of a person's experience with a certain product.
Enduring Participation - The participation of the travelers in the buying and contribution of the visiting and travel and leisure experience.
So in conclusion, food does and can are likely involved in your choice making procedure for the vacationer when they search for a country. For those tourists that contain a love for food and diversity would be motivated to travel to a country to experiment and try out their local delicacies which is this act that is known as food tourism.
2. 3. 2 Food Travel and leisure in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Malaysia is a country that is rich in its traditions and culture with the blend of 3 different races living under one rooftop namely Malays, Chinese language and Indians. Using the blend and combo of these many civilizations and ethnic track record creates a haven of many different celebrations, sights, heritage and FOOD. Due to all these variety in ethnicities and traditions, Malaysia has become a top choice of destination for vacationer as it pertains to their travel agenda. Regarding to an article in the New Straits Times paper (2010), in the entire year 2009, Malaysia was rated as 9th as the utmost travelled tourist vacation spot US World Tourism Company (UNWTO) with 23. 65 million holiday and the Travel and leisure ministry of Malaysia blueprints to increase that amount to 36 million vacationer in the near future. This happening can be scheduled to many reasons including the many historic sights to see, the green landscaping Mother Nature has to offer as well as the endless shopping available to cure ones addiction. But besides that, food also plays an important role among the motivators for visitor to travel to Malaysia. Malaysia is known as a country that eats 24-time each day with eating outlet stores ranging from traditional and traditional food to present day cuisine and from highway part delicacies to 5 star fine dining stores. Whatever you earn to eat can be found in Malaysia. No doubt that other country has their own unique blend of food but Malaysia established fact for its diverse mix in food ranging from Malay to international food.
Tourism in Malaysia is quickly growing every year. Increasingly more foreign holidaymakers from around the globe want to visit Malaysia to experience first palm all the united states has to offer. Food travel and leisure another facet of tourism is also on the swift surge in Malaysia. There are many reasons to the sensation the first being that Malaysia is a country that is full and vast in its traditions and culture due to its blend of different races and religions living under one roof top. Foreign tourist want to experience what it is similar to to be surviving in a country that has many rich and diverse mixture of culture because they are unable to experience that in their own country. Take Australia or America or even Arab Saudi, these countries have only one main culture or traditions that they are subjected to where else when they visit Malaysia, they could experience maybe 3 or more ethnicities all under one roof covering. Because of this rich and diverse mixture of ethnicities in Malaysia, food has also been a major move factor for vacationer. Just like everything else in Malaysia, food in Malaysia is a mixture of many diverse ethnicities that add up or transcend into something that is very unique which fits for those demographics. Even though Malaysian food may lack somewhat of sophistication, or design in comparison to that of the girl, it still meets the culinary requirements. There are a wide variety of restaurants that focus on the Malaysian visitor they can never get bored to death off. Another reason that can donate to the rise in food travel and leisure in Malaysia is because of the upsurge in the infrastructure of the united states. It is now much easier to reach places very quickly frame by making use of the many open public transport systems such as the monorail, Hop-on Hop-off, LRT, busses and taxi services. Along with the increase of the quantity in visitor arrivals, the government has used the effort to grow its infrastructure to help deal with the stated go up in tourism thus, rendering it easier and cheaper for vacationer to get around the united states. Another reason why food travel and leisure is easily accessible in Malaysia is as a result of many different and affordable accommodations available from guest properties to 5-star hotel accommodations all located at a central area making it easy to bypass the city.
Food Festivals In Malaysia
Because there's a surge in food travel and leisure in Malaysia, many initiatives are being taken up to ensure that this aspect of travel and leisure is long term and not merely for today's time. To carry out that, the Travel and leisure Ministry of Malaysia has produce a number of showcases and festivals and sights to draw in the foreign market to part-take in food tourism in Malaysia.
Malaysia International Gourmet Festival
This event was presented in September 2001 which is a collaboration of 13 five-star fine eating out restaurants. The reason this event is placed yearly is to popularize the fine dinner field in Malaysia as many people perceive fine dining to be something that is very expensive and a waste products of time. Even though Malaysians love dining out, they usually go for additional traditional and known food somewhat than this type of a dishes. Each year, the restaurants reserve their variations to get together in a collective effort to help market fine kitchen. Many folks have taken interest into this event and it is growing every year.
Malaysia International Food and Drink Trade fair
This fare has existed for more than 10 years and it is just about the leading trade event for the meals and beverage industry. It is becoming one of the very most anticipated incidents in the country. This event offer services, services and opportunities for the food industry lover from all around the globe. The highlights of the event add the Malaysian Indigenous food and beverage as well as it gives the chance for foreign suppliers to dive in to the local and worldwide grocery store place.
Food and Super fruit Fiesta Malaysia
This event usually takes place in the month of July and it consists of a wide spectral range of Asian and International delicacies together with a blend of tropical, subtropical and temperate fruits and food. Apart from this event being a past time among Malaysians, it has turned into a distributed event.
Fabulous Food 1Malaysia
This is a 3 month food drive that has been planned by the Ministry of Travel and leisure Malaysia and Tourism Malaysia that aims to rejoice and make known Malaysia's unique and diverse culture displayed in their food with a series of thrilling activities to attract the tastebuds of most Malaysians and also the foreign market. Based on the minister of tourism, this event not only features Malaysia as an eating vacation spot packed with culture and heritage but also as a country that is united through the blend of different types of food.
Apart from local situations, there have been several occasions where food celebrations were placed in countries outside Malaysia to spotlight to those overseas market that cannot visit Malaysia about Malaysia and its heritage and culture indicated through food.
Malaysia Evening at Trafalgar Square
This is a famous vacationer destination spot which is found in central London. A celebration on Malaysian street food happened as of this square to give the local people there a tiny glimpse about Malaysian road food. The free food celebration features around 20 different stalls from around Malaysian restaurants and also some live entertainment. Besides food, fine art and build were also exhibited at the festivity as well as some live performances of Malaysian traditional and modern dance,
Malaysian Food Celebration, Sydney
The Sophistication Brassiere found in Sydney, Australia just lately possessed a Malaysian food celebration to provide and showcase to the local people in Australia about Malaysian food. Several cooking styles from mamak to the aromatic lemak, were provided to cater to all the several pallet present. The celebration was not only for those foodies but also for everyone.
A Malaysian Food Special event in New York City
New York is definitely blessed with an array of different Asian cuisine ranging from Chinese language Dumplings to Japanese Sushi and also Southern Asian Food. Lately, a Malaysian food celebration was held in the Big Apple and this delighted not only the Asians there but also the country's residents. This event was sponsored by Malaysia Kitchen whose purpose is to make Malaysian food popular. There was a range of many different types of food shown to please ever palette present.
The Malaysian Food Festivity, Taj Banjara Hyderabad
In an effort to disperse the 'Truly Asian' hospitality, Travel and leisure Malaysia, Malaysian Airlines together with The Taj group hotels lately had a nine day food festival on Malaysia. Truly Malaysian dishes was dished up at the celebration by using chef Ishaq from the Crown Plaza hotel. Besides food, people accumulated were also cured for some Malaysian entertainment.
As stated, there is a collective work being designed to designed to promote Food Travel and leisure in Malaysia, Food travel and leisure not necessarily should be done by the locals but it can even be performed by everyone whether it be locals or foreigners. Not merely in Malaysia but food celebrations about Malaysia are being presented all around the world to spread the news headlines about Malaysia and its own food. Through proper and effective marketing and promotion, Malaysian food can reach across many borders. It's only in recent years that the Malaysian federal has recognized the upsurge in food travel and leisure in Malaysian and it has now come up with various plans and ways of further increase this aspect of tourism. Because of this, increasingly more foreign visitor are flooding Malaysia to experience first hand all the Malaysia provides and Food Tourism is one of them
