Tourism: Assessment of sensitivity to hygiene and food safety procedures in the catering sector

Abstract

Tourists choose the destination considering the hospitality, local safety, authenticity, quality, and price. Hygiene and food safety perception can influence tourists' choices and creates singularity in tourism destinations.
The main purpose of this study was the assessment of restauration sta and consumers' sensitivity about food safety in catering domain to understand the importance of this factors. Tourists from different segments: cultural, nature, and sun and beach were the target audience.
The Centre of Portugal supported the experimental query approach, based in two separate surveys developed for the different entities, applied to a random sample of 120 stakeholders. The results show that customers consider hygiene and food safety when choosing and evaluating the restaurant and its post-meal satisfaction index. The results also show that customers and service providers similarly assess the importance of hygiene in the dining room, as well as tableware and sanitary facilities. However, parameters such as freshness, products' quality and correct preparation are more important for service providers. The HACCP system appears to make an important contribution to ensuring hygiene and food safety, especially if managers and their teams are aware of the importance of these factors in consolidating the confidence of tourists and the sustainable development of tourism.