28th International Conference on Organizational Science Development

New technologies, new challenges

March 25th 27th, 2009, Portoro, Slovenia

Tourist awareness and interest of organic food: the case of
Istria

Desimir Bokovi
Institute of Agriculture and Tourism, Croatia
desimir@iptpo.hr

Ana Teak
Institute of Agriculture and Tourism, Croatia
tezak@iptpo.hr

Darko Safti
Institute of Agriculture and Tourism, Croatia
darkos@iptpo.hr


Abstract
Due to the consumers concern for their health and the rise of their ecological
consciousness demand for organic food is increasing. According to this trend there is
an increase in the amount of total agricultural land surface used for organic farming -
it is estimated to be about 10% of the total agricultural land surface. Rural area in
Istria, due to certain conditions posed by organic farming, is relatively suitable for the
development of organic farming. The market for organic products in Croatia, as well
as in Istria, is growing. The main purpose of this paper is to examine tourists
awareness and perception of organic food. The data on tourists interest in
purchasing/consuming organic food during their stay in Istria were collected as a part
of a Research conducted in 2007 among the tourists visiting the Istrian coast and the
results showed there is certain interest in organic food shown by tourists, so this year
a research was conducted to widen the mentioned data. It was based on the
hypotheses that most of the tourists visiting Istria are ecologically conscious and
informed about the specific features of organic food. This survey was conducted as a
part of the research called Market development possibilities for organic farming in
Istria. The methods used in this paper are questionnaire, interview and compilation.

Keywords: organic food, ecological awareness, tourists perception, Istria


1 INTRODUCTION
Organic food is a recent trend in tourism and can be considered as a new segment of
gastronomic offer. Due to certain specific features of organic farming, the price of organic
food is higher than the price of conventional food. There are a certain number of tourists
interested in this gastronomic segment and are willing to accept higher price for a guarantee
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that the food they are consuming is produced by an ecologically acceptable method
(Bokovi, D, 2007).

In Croatia organic farming is developing and this is also true of the Istrian County. Some
research has been done in this field from the agronomic and tourism aspects. It tried to
explore the possibility of placing organic vegetables on tourism market (Ban, D, erovi
Lonar, S, Oplani M., 2004), but most of the papers focus on the agronomic aspect. Last
year, The Institute of Agriculture and Tourism conducted a survey among tourists staying in
Istria in which, among other questions, there was a question about the tourists willingness to
consume organic food. The results showed that about 49% of the respondents said that they
were interested in consumption of organic food.

The main purpose of this paper is to present the results of the survey into tourists awareness
and perception of organic food and to explore the possibilities for offering it to tourists.

2 Data source and methodology
Based on the above mentioned research results, this year, in order to examine development
possibility for market of organic food, a research on Market development possibilities of
organic farming in Istria was conducted. It was divided into two parts.

In the first part current state of organic farming was identified using secondary data obtained
form different sources. Results of this part were used as a basis for the second part: in forming
an appropriate organic food price scale and in determining on what segment of tourists
research is to be conducted.

The second part of this research was split into three segments: tourists, local population and
distribution so that adequate questionnaires for each segment could be created. In this paper
tourists awareness of specific features and their perception of organic food are presented.

In the survey, 1,300 questionnaires were collected from tourists visiting Istria in August and
September 2008. Sample selection was carried out in several phases. Because it was
established in the first phase of research that organic food is, in principle, more costly than
conventionally produced food, the tourists selected for the survey were mostly those staying
in higher category facilities. The pattern of facilities is as follows: two-star hotels, 0.46%;
three-star hotels, 34%; four-star hotels, 63.54%; and high category villas, 2%.

The reasoning behind the above pattern was the assumption that tourists staying in higher
category accommodation facilities possess the purchasing power required to buy organic
food. Four-star hotels in Istria were identified and visited on dates agreed with the hotel
management.

Tourists were given a questionnaire containing 16 questions, divided into a number of groups.
The first group of questions related to demography: country of origin, age, sex, profession,
and income. The second group of questions sought to obtain answers referring to the purchase
of organic food by tourists in their home country: how satisfied tourists are with the
foodstuffs they buy daily, how many tourists buy organic food at home, where do they buy
organic food, how much do they pay for these products, and how well informed are tourists,
in general, about organic farming and organic food. The third group of questions focused on
the stay of tourists in Istria. Tourists were asked whether they were interested in buying and
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consuming organic food during their stay in Istria and how much higher a price they would be
willing to pay. They were also asked to name the type of facility in which they would like to
consume organic food and to state whether they would be interested in spending their
vacation in rural Istria.

This paper aims to explore the existence of a significant difference between the interest of
tourists in organic food and how well informed they are about organic food with regard to
whether they already are organic food buyers in their home country or not. The assumption is
that a difference exists between how well informed tourists are and their interests in organic
food with regard to whether they already are organic food buyers in their home country. The
following table shows the number of tourist responses by individual variable.

Variable Frequency %
Independent
Purchase of organic food in the home country 1289 99,15
Dependent
Tourists awareness about the legal conditions of organic farming 1222 94,00
Tourists awareness about places to buy organic food 1210 93,08
Tourists awareness about the production cost of organic food 1181 90,85
Tourists awareness about selling price of organic food 1193 91,77
Tourists interest in buying organic food while staying in Istria 1289 99,15
Table 1: Tourist sample selection

The majority of tourists replied to questions of whether they are already organic food buyers
and whether they would be interested in buying organic food. The least number of responses
was obtained to the question of how well informed they are about the production cost of
organic food. Of the total number of responses to the question on previous purchases of
organic food in the home country, 34.1% of respondents stated that they do not purchase
organic food at home, while 65.9% stated that they do.

The question of whether the tourists are already buyers of organic food was provided with two
alternative answers: I buy organic food and I do not buy organic food. To assess their level of
information regarding the specific attributes of organic food, tourists were asked to assess
how well informed they are regarding the legal conditions of organic production, places to
buy organic food, the production cost and the selling prices of organic food by selecting one
of three options: I am not informed, I am partially informed, and I am fully informed.

Data were presented graphically and processed using statistical methods. The
2
test was
applied to establish whether a significant difference exists between groups.

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3 Results
In demonstrating how well informed tourists are about the specific attributes of organic food,
the criterion of whether or not tourists are organic food buyers in their home country was
taken into consideration. The following chart illustrates how well informed tourists are about
the legal conditions of organic farming with regard to whether or not they are already buyers
of organic food in their home country.

Chart 1: Tourists awareness about the legal conditions of organic farming

Most of the tourists, who stated that they do buy organic food, also assessed that they are
partially informed, whereas the number of tourists who assessed that they are poorly informed
or fully informed is almost identical. The level of awareness in the group of tourists who do
not buy organic food in their home country is visibly lower, and the option I am not informed
heavily prevails, while the option fully informed is exceptionally low. This is not surprising
as, generally, people do not gather information about things they have no interest in.

The following chart shows how well informed tourists are about places to buy organic food
with regard to whether or not they are already buyers of organic food in their home country.

Chart 2: Tourists awareness about places to buy organic food
11.90%
6.49%
10.48%
24.38%
10.73%
36.02%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
Not informed Partially
informed
Fully informed
Non-buyers
Buyers
Response rate 92.46%
17.71%
13.10%
36.16%
40.00%
30.00%
11.78%
17.63%
Non-buyers
20.00%
Buyers
3.62%
10.00%
0.00%
Not informed Partially
informed
Fully informed
Response rate 93.38%
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Most of the tourists who stated that they do buy organic food in their home countries (more
than half of the respondents) also stated that they are fully informed of places to buy organic
food; a little more than one-third, that they are partially informed; and about one-tenth, that
they are not informed. The question arises as to why tourists, who do buy organic food, have
stated that they are poorly informed. The likely reason for this is the way in which they have
understood the posed question: most probably this group consumes organic food that someone
else buys for them, or if they do buy it themselves, they most likely buy at a limited number
of points of sale. Another reason may be the fact that they were asked to self-assess their own
level of information.

The following chart demonstrates how well tourists are informed about the production costs
of organic food with regard to whether or not they are already organic food buyers in their
home country.

40.00%
Chart 3: Tourists awareness about the production cost of organic food

There is an exceptionally low number of tourists have stated that they are fully informed
about the production costs of organic food. A considerable number of tourists who already are
organic food buyers have stated that they are partially informed; a slightly lower number, that
they are not informed, and only one-seventh of respondents stated that they were fully
informed. Most of the tourists who do not buy organic food have stated that they are not
informed on its production cost; a slightly smaller share, that they are partially informed; and
one-tenth, that they are fully informed, a result that is quite similar to that regarding the level
of information regarding legal conditions.

The next chart illustrates how well informed tourists are about the selling price of organic
food with regard to whether or not they already are organic food buyers in their home country.

20.12%
24.72%
31.88%
30.00%
Non-buyers 20.00%
10.14% 9.89%
Buyers
10.00% 3.24%
0.00%
Not informed Partially
informed
Fully informed
Response rate 90.23%
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Chart 4: Tourists awareness about selling price of organic food

Most of the tourists who do buy organic food have assessed that they are partially informed
about its selling prices, one-third have stated that they are fully informed, while slightly
higher than one-seventh have stated that they are not informed. The extent to which tourists,
who do not buy organic food, are informed shows a downward trend as the information level
increases. Namely, most of them stated that they were not informed; a smaller share, that they
were partially informed; and only slightly more than one-sixth, that they were fully informed.

The following chart shows the interest of tourists in buying organic food during their stay in
Istria with regard to whether or not they already are buyers of organic food in their home
country.

Chart 5: Tourists interest in buying organic food while staying in Istria

The majority of tourists surveyed, who already are organic food buyers, are interested in
buying it during their vacation in Istria, whereas slightly less than one-fifth have stated that
they are not interested. More than half of the tourists, who do not buy organic food; have
stated that they also have no interest in buying it while visiting Istria. However, 46% of
respondents in this group have stated that they would be interested in buying organic food
while staying in Istria.
18.50%
12.18%
15.61%
53.71%
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
Not interested Interested
Buyers
Non-buyers
Response rate 98.54%
14.26%
9.87%
34.60%
40.00%
30.00%
22.19%
13.16%
Non-buyers 20.00%
Buyers
5.91%
10.00%
0.00%
Not informed Partially
informed
Fully informed
Response rate 91.15%
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The
2
test was used to verify whether a significant difference exists between dependent and
independent variables. Results are displayed in the table below.

Variable
2
df p sig.
Tourists awareness about the legal conditions of
organic farming
149,531 2 0,000 0,351 0,000
Tourists awareness about places to buy organic food 127,535 2 0,000 0,326 0,000
Tourists awareness about the production cost of
organic food
58,021 2 0,000 0,222 0,000
Tourists awareness about selling price of organic
food
116,587 2 0,000 0,314 0,000
Tourists interest in buying organic food while
staying in Istria
173,029 1 0,000 0,368 0,000
Table 2: X
2
test
Statistical analysis was used to establish that a statistically significant difference does exist
between the observed variable, meaning that previous purchase of organic food has an
influence on the level of information that tourists possess and on their interest in buying
organic food during the stay in Istria.

4 CONCLUSION
The main purpose of this paper was to explore the existence of a significant difference
between the interest of tourists in organic food and how well informed they are about organic
food relative to whether they already are organic food buyers in their home country or not.
The hypothesis formulated states that a difference exists between the four aspects used to
establish tourists awareness about organic food and their interest in buying organic food in
Istria with regard to whether they are already organic food buyers in their home country.

The prevailing number of tourists considers that they are partially informed on both the legal
conditions for organic farming and the selling price of organic food, fully informed about the
places to buy organic food, but not informed when it comes to the production cost of organic
food. Tourists, who are not organic food buyers in the own country, have mostly stated that
they are not informed about the specific attributes of organic food and that they are mostly not
interested in consuming organic food during their stay in Istria. However, half of these
tourists did respond that they would be interested in buying organic food in Istria, indicating
an interest in new experiences in the gastronomic offering of Istria as a tourist destination.
Those tourists who are organic food buyers have mostly stated that they are partially informed
about the specific attributes of organic food, with the exception of places where to buy, of
which most of them are fully informed.

Almost 70% of entire sample of tourists have stated that they are interested in buying organic
food during their stay in Istria, and this confirms the interest of tourists in the organic food
offering in Istria. Although interest is displayed on the part of tourists for the gastronomic
offering to be expanded to include the organic food sector, all variables have not been taken
187

into consideration, such as, the purchasing power of the tourists surveyed, their willingness to
pay higher prices, and Istrias organic food offering.

Previous purchase of organic food by tourists in their home country impacts on how well
informed they are about the specific features of organic farming and organic food and on their
interest in buying organic food during their stay in Istria. As the prevailing number of tourists
have stated that they are partially informed about organic agriculture and organic food and if
the gastronomic offering is to be expanded to include this segment as well, it would be
advantageous, in promoting Istria as a destination, to provide tourists with more information
regarding these specific issues.


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