Do Ethnocentrism and Food Neophobia Influence Touristic Behavior? An Investigation among Chinese Generation Z Individuals in Italy

The improvements in socio-economic conditions have made China one of the most significant forces in the global tourism industry. Following this, a considerable number of works studying Chinese tourism preferences, motives, and behaviors from countless perspectives have been published. Among the factors investigated, Chinese tourists’ food neophobia and ethnocentrism can be counted. Nevertheless, most of the works focus only on one of the latter elements highlighted and do not consider that both may conjointly influence Chinese tourists’ behaviors. This investigation wants to fill this gap by conjointly studying the effects of ethnocentrism and food neophobia on young Chinese tourists. By adopting a snowball sampling technique, a sample of 318 Chinese generation Z participants – who have visited Italy at least once – was collected online. Data were analyzed by combining moderated mediation analysis with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. In brief, the results highlight that consumers’ ethnocentrism and food neophobia play a negative moderating role in influencing future intentions and that ethnocentrism seems to influence food products and touristic products differently. From a theoretical standpoint, the current research extends the knowledge about Chinese tourism, highlighting that food neophobia and consumers’ ethnocentricity can conjointly affect the tourism experience negatively. Additionally, this study offers some valuable suggestions for practitioners.