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Given the increased importance of food in tourists’ travel experience, the purpose of this paper is to explore the current and future potential of local food and foodways in marketing Egyptian destinations online.

The content of 20 Egyptian destination marketing organization (DMO) websites was subject to a content analysis. A checklist was developed based on literature analysis. The frequencies of information related to food culture and cuisine marketing were tallied, followed by a qualitative assessment of contents from the various websites. The results were further discussed with DMO representatives to provide contextualized insights as to the future potential of utilizing local food and food tourism initiatives as a component of DMOs website marketing in Egypt.

The study noted some initial efforts for Egyptian DMO websites to market food culture and gastronomic practices; however, the results suggest that the usage of food culture on Egyptian DMOs websites is still in its infancy. The study also highlights the challenges that need to be tackled as well as the resources required for food tourism development.

This study illustrates the need and potential capacity of Egyptian DMO websites to market food culture and local cuisines (including traditional foods and table manners). These results are expected to help Egyptian DMOs to strategically embrace local cuisine and food culture as a vehicle for destination marketing.

This case study provides insights for African and other developing economies in their destination marketing. The proposed framework and guidelines are intended to potentially serve as a framework for destination marketers and entrepreneurs to optimize the tourism potential of food culture.

Using destination brand experience as a conceptual lens and data evidence from international visitors to Egypt, the purpose of this study is to examine the relative impact of the various dimensions of local food experience on tourist overall food satisfaction and destination revisit intention.

Data from a convenience sample of international visitors to Cairo, Egypt, (N = 302) was quantitatively analyzed using the structural equation modeling approach to test the relationships among constructs.

Empirical results reveal that three components of destination food experiences – sensory, affective and behavioral – effectively explain tourists’ food satisfaction and destination revisit intention, while intellectual food experience was reported to only influence destination revisit intention. Interestingly, the effect of food experience satisfaction on destination revisit intention was not significant.

This study identifies local food experience aspects that require to be managed at a strategic level and provides guidelines on how these aspects can be effectively managed.

This study is the first empirical application of a multidimensional experience model to the context of tourists’ local food experience; it identifies the multifaceted characteristics of local food experience that deserve scholars’ and marketers’ attention.