Title: Tourists' behavioural analysis on olive oil consumption: empirical results

Authors: Valentina Sabbatini; Georgios Manthoulis; George Baourakis; Periklis Drakos; George Angelakis; Constantin Zopounidis

Addresses: Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, CIHEAM-MAICh, Alsyllio Agrokepio, 1Makedonias str Chania, Crete, 73100, Greece; DAFNE, Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Via San Camillo de Lellis, 01100, Viterbo, Italy ' Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, CIHEAM-MAICh, Alsyllio Agrokepio, 1Makedonias str Chania, Crete, 73100, Greece; School of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete, University Campus, 731 00 Chania, Greece ' Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, CIHEAM-MAICh, Alsyllio Agrokepio, 1Makedonias str Chania, Crete, 73100, Greece; Center for Entrepreneurship and Stewardship, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, The Netherlands ' Department of Economics, Faculty of Social, Economics and Political Sciences, University Campus, University of Crete, Rethymno 74100, Greece ' Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, CIHEAM-MAICh, Alsyllio Agrokepio, 1Makedonias str Chania, Crete, 73100, Greece ' School of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete, University Campus, 731 00 Chania, Greece; Audencia Nantes School of Management, Audencia Business School, 8 route de la Joneliere – B.P. 3122244312, Nantes Cedex, 3, France

Abstract: Olive oil is one of the products closely related to the Mediterranean basin and it represents one of the most important agricultural activities. Greece represents the third largest producer of olive oil in Europe. This research attempts to explore the olive oil preferences of tourists who have visited the island of Crete. The approach involved collecting questionnaires during the summer of 2014, in order to derive quantitative data, preferences, attitudes, socio-demographic profiles and the purchasing criteria of tourists towards olive oil. Logistic regression was used with the aim of studying the profile of the tourist that decides to buy olive oil in Crete. The results of the study demonstrated that the country of origin of the tourists is one of the most important driver in olive oil choice as well as the time spent in Crete and the interest in typical products.

Keywords: olive oil consumption; Crete; consumer behaviour; logistic regression; tourism industry; tourist behaviour; behavioural analysis; tourist preferences; socio-demographic profiles; purchasing criteria.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2016.077968

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2016 Vol.6 No.2, pp.136 - 146

Received: 16 Sep 2015
Accepted: 06 Feb 2016
Published online: 28 Jul 2016 *

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