Special Interest Tourism: An Analysis of Food Tourism in Malaysia

This essay provides an analysis of food tourism in Malaysia, focusing on the country's culinary offerings and their appeal to tourists. The paper explores the viewpoints of Karim et al. (2009) and Hashemi and Hosseiniyan (2014) regarding Malaysian cuisine and its attributes. It examines three key categories of food that attract tourists: Laksa, Nasi Lemak, and Bak Kut Teh. The essay also discusses promotional activities used to increase tourist rates in restaurants and assesses consumer satisfaction based on the perspectives of the cited articles. Furthermore, it highlights Malaysia's multicultural environment, the significance of cuisine in promoting the destination, and the country's ranking as a top tourist destination. The methodology of the studies, including both quantitative and qualitative approaches, is also reviewed. Overall, the essay emphasizes the importance of food tourism in Malaysia's economy and its role in enhancing the country's image as a desirable travel destination.

SPECIAL INTEREST TOURISM

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
This essay is a reflection of food tourism in Malaysia. Tourism always encourages more
tourists and attracts customers by their variety in many aspects especially food and cuisines with
colourful dishes. The paper aims to show their food image and its satisfactory attribute in
Malaysia. In addition to this, the paper is examined through “Karim” and “Hashemi and
Hosseiniyan” viewpoints regarding cuisines cooked in Malaysia. Moreover, it is going to display
three categories of food in Malaysia which attracts more customers’. The paper also refers to
various promotional activities which help in increasing tourists rate in restaurants. Lastly, it
reflects an overall satisfaction of consumers from the viewpoint of both the articles.
MAIN BODY
In a multicultural country like Malaysia, cuisine is necessary in promoting the destination
and in addition to this, it helps in recognising an important tourism service and its related
experience.
In this context, Karim and et.al. (2009), laid their viewpoint regarding food tourism in
Malaysia that determines the present attributes of food and its satisfaction while consumed by
tourists. According to Hashemi and Hosseiniyan (2014) food in Malaysia have its own stories
and unique taste. People staying in Malaysia is very proud of their traditional food which is
different from other ethnic countries.
Malaysia known as Malay is famous for its food with plenty of uniqueness in it. This
food has different varieties which can be specified as spicy and aromatic (Nair and et.al., 2015).
As per Karim and et.al. (2009) Malaysia has its clear picture about food which is known as
'Malaysian food speciality' and 'Malaysian food uniqueness'. In addition to this, tourists are
satisfied with their quality and accessibility of food which is higher than dining atmosphere of
Malaysia. Moreover, he said that after many decades of political stability, it has made it as a
wealthy country in this region.
According to Hashemi and Hosseiniyan (2014) a rich dish can be created by giving it a
creamy look by adding coconut milk. This leads to the argument with Hassan, (2011) that Malay
cuisine are prepared on low heat which is similar to Chinese food. Malaysian food is not only
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cooked at home but is also available in different restaurants from hawkers to the most famous
hotel's.
As per the viewpoint of Karim and et.al. (2009) WTO has ranked Malaysia in top 15
destinations in the world (Battour and et.al., 2017). This country has earned US$6.8 billion from
the tourists who has ordered Malaysian food. Economy rate is going high of Malay as it is the
best destination to travel in the world and further to this, it is also becoming rich in nature and
culture. The main thing is cuisine in Malay but it also has a wide range of mountain parks,
beaches and rain forests which attract more tourists towards them. This country has a large
contribution in sector of tourists places of the world (Wong and Musa, 2017).
Cooking of a specific area in Malaysia attracts travellers with the interest in drinks and
food. Hashemi and Hosseiniyan (2014) viewpoint also refers to the multicultural and
multinational foods that are offered in Malaysia's hotel which gives different alternatives to
customer's. In terms of Malay food, it is mostly prepared at home and has not come up in
presenting an ethnic cuisine to consumer.
Categories
There are three categories in food of the country such as Laksa, Nasi Lemak and Bak Kut
Teh which has their own uniqueness and taste (Hashemi and Hosseiniyan, 2014). It also aims in
celebrating food exclusitivity with exciting activities that can engage tourists to its fruitful taste
in different categories.
Methodology
As said Malaysia is considered to be a truly Asian country and is referred in order to
become the best tourist destination place. However, Karim and et.al. (2009) also described that
there is no clear image of Malaysia as compared to Singapore and Thailand with reference to
food or cuisine. He also included that Thailand is famous for its classical soup and so Malaysia
must have its own specific reference in food (Siau and et.al., 2015). Hence, Malay is also
expected in providing its identity which helps in reflecting the nation's culture.
As per Karim and et.al. (2009) and Hashemi and Hosseiniyan (2014), both has their own
methodology in context to food tourism of Malaysia. There are five sections for study of
methodology which has an objective design of research in Karim and et.al. (2009). In addition to
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this, the first section refers to measure images of food along with 19 attributes and moreover, the
second part is in terms of measuring food image with 18 attributes. Further, in third section it
was measured overall with customer's satisfaction in food. Moreover, the fourth section shows an
analytical behaviour of tourists pertaining in cuisines. However, the last section shows
demographic profiles of respondents in Malaysia.
As per the methodology of Hashemi and Hosseiniyan (2014) he considered the
quantitative method as a perfect approach which helps in validating theoretical framework of this
particular study (Mosbahand Al Khuja ,2014). In addition to this method, 300 questionnaires
were distributed and from this, 285 were found positive and beneficial for this study. Moreover,
Karim and et.al. (2009) founded that the best method for finding relations between satisfaction of
consumers’ and their behaviour is in linear regression analysis.
Aspects
The main issue of traveller is not finding the cuisine but it is related to what should they
eat in Malaysia as it has varieties in their food. In addition to this, the ethnic country’s strategies
in providing fabulous cuisine with pleasure to visitors is not found in any other country. They
also try to cook food with new trends which aids in satisfying customers in Malaysia.
As per the article of Hashemi and Hosseiniyan (2014) the main aim of country is to
prepare food with appropriate taste, look, smell and texture which influences consumers to
purchase the same cuisine. But as compared to Karim and et.al. (2009) viewpoint, Malaysia is
focused on people to make them travel more to last a memory in their lives. Likewise, travellers
are interested in looking forward to various experiences and uniqueness during their trip in
Malaysia (Everett, 2016).
In addition to this, Malaysian food is fabulous and delightful that leads their Ministry to
move on to promote the Malaysian street food and restaurants.
Moreover, Hashemi and Hosseiniyan (2014) also refers to the promotion of Malay food
as it is heaven for tourists. They provide systematic guidelines which are required to implement
in promoting delicious food to visitors and customers’. Many promotional strategies like
advertising on internet and television are applied to attract more consumers’ and tourists in
Malaysia.
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Promotional Strategy
According to Richard, (2012) promotional activities are also performed on twitter,
Facebook and blogs which are also effective to increase customers’ rate. However, printing
medias such as booklets, magazines and periodicals help in more publicity of food and drinks in
Malay (Lee and et.al., 2017). This should be performed in order to satisfy customer's needs and
requirements in food and cuisines. All these analysis and promotional activities help in inspiring
customers’ and tourists to visit Malaysia again for its famous cuisines and drinks.
As per three categories mentioned above, first is cited to promote food in top hotels and
second encourages in promoting food in food courts which are situated in malls (Lai, Khoo-
Lattimore and Wang, 2017). Lastly, the third part is in promotion to street and hawkers’
restaurants which helps in making Malaysia an advanced and multicultural country.
According to Hashemi and Hosseiniyan (2014) Malay should also plan in cooking as per
communities and regions which attract visitors in getting local and delicious food of Malaysia.
Lastly, adding the value to food, local people will be more satisfied in their cuisines which
benefits in sharing this positive view to their relatives and friends who are visiting in Malay
(Karim and et.al., 2009). Therefore, the government must also look forward in terms of
maintaining effectiveness in quality and safety of food which facilitates visitors in more
advanced way. Moreover, it is analysed that Hashemi and Hosseiniyan (2014) and Karim and
et.al. (2009) relates it to the positive growth in Malaysian’s food and cuisine and also increases
the economic rates. In addition to this, it also determines the image of food and satisfaction of
tourists towards the country.
CONCLUSION
It is summarised that Malaysia has a clear image about food tourism which has been specified
as 'Malaysian food speciality'. According to the article of Hashemi and Hosseiniyan, Malaysia is
known to be truly Asian in terms of cooking various dishes with coconut milk, which gave it rich
and creamy texture. In addition to this, it has been also analysed that there are three categories
like Laksa, Nasi Lemak and Bak Kut Teh in Malaysian’s food. Moreover, the analysis showed
that Hashemi and Hosseiniyan preferred the quantitative approach in its methodology and as per
Karim and et.al. (2009) objective design of research was an appropriate method. However, one
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aspect was found that affected customers would find the cuisine and can refer it to somebody
else in Malaysia as there are many alternatives present. Lastly, paper attempted to show that
promotion on internet is the best activity which helps in attracting more tourists. Overall analysis
gave the best image of food and satisfactory attribute in Malaysia.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Battour, M. & et.al. (2017). Islamic tourism: an empirical examination of travel motivation and
satisfaction in Malaysia. Current Issues in Tourism 20(1) 50-67. Everett, S.
(2016). Food and drink tourism: Principles and practice. Sage.
Hashemi, S. M., & Hosseiniyan, N. (2014). A study of food tourism: The potential for activating
business in Malaysia. Theory and Practice in Hospitality and Tourism Research,
465.
Karim, A. & et.al. (2009). Malaysia as a culinary tourism destination: international tourists’
perspective/M. Shahrim Ab. Karim, Bee-Lia Chua and Hamdin Salleh. Journal of
Tourism, Hospitality & Culinary Arts 1(3) 1-16.
Lai, M. Y., Khoo-Lattimore, C., & Wang, Y. (2017). Food and cuisine image in destination
branding: Toward a conceptual model. Tourism and Hospitality Research,
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Lee, S. & et.al. (2017). Price, people, location, culture and reputation: determinants of Malaysia
as study destination by international hospitality and tourism undergraduates. Journal of
Tourism and Cultural Change, 1-13.
Mosbah, A., & Al Khuja, M. S. A. (2014). A review of tourism development in Malaysia. Euro J
Bus and Manage 6(5) 1-9.
Nair, V. & et.al. (2015). Redefining rural tourism in Malaysia: A conceptual perspective. Asia
Pacific Journal of Tourism Research 20(3) 314-337.
Siau, A. M. F. & et.al. (2015). Food court hygiene assessment and food safety
knowledge, attitudes and practices of food handlers in Putrajaya.
International Food and Research Journal 22(5) 1843.
Wong, B. K. M., & Musa, G. (2017). Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H): Retirees'
demographic profile and spending dynamics. Tourism Management 60 42-46.
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