Religious and Socio-demographic characteristics of tourists: literature review

Today, most tourist destinations are faced with the problem of tourists’ mass movement and competing destinations that offer similar tourist experience. In addition to accommodation, recreation and various excursions, food is one of the important factors shaping the experience at a destination. In order to distinguish destinations, most experts examine the demand and tourists’ needs and eating habits during their stay. The main determinants influencing food consumption at a destination are religion, culture and socio-demographic characteristics of tourists. The objective of this research is to ascertain which aspects influence food consumption at a destination. This paper presents the research which suggests that religion is a very important determinant affecting the food selection and consumption, while culture is a major determinant that affects the type of food that a person considers acceptable for consumption. At the same time, socio-demographic characteristics of an individual can be a determinant affecting food consumption. The contribution of this paper is the review of previous researches and systematization of results, which suggest that factors such as religious and socio-demographic characteristics of tourists can be determinants for analyzing food consumption at a destination.