Abstract:
Tourism is defined as the temporary, short term movement of people to destinations outside the places where they normally live and work including the activities they engage in during their stay at such destinations. For tourists to enjoy their stay in a destination, tourism products such as accommodation, transportation, food, financial services, marketing, insurance, information and the likes have to be put in place. This study mainly surveyed customer’s perceptions and satisfaction towards local food. It examined the level of satisfaction of local food consumption among the customers to the study areas and the factors responsible for customer’s perception.
The data used in this study were primary and secondary data. Secondary data were obtained from the Ministry of Tourism, which is mandated with overall responsibility for development, support, policy, marketing, research, standards and promotion of Tourism in Ondo State. A total of 199 structured questionnaires were administered randomly among the respondents.The data were analyzed using frequency count, simple percentages, correlation and Chi- square.
The results of the study showed that there was a strong correlation (R= 0.83) relationship between the dishes preferred and (P=0.01) factors considered in the order for local food. The level of satisfaction of local food consumption had significant relationship with respondents age (X2=30.95, P< 0.01), marital status (X2= 15.95, P< 0.01), occupation (X2= 13.72. P< 0.01) and income (X2= 34.93, P< 0.01) while gender and level of education had no significant relationship with the respondents level of satisfaction of local food consumption.
Based on the findings of the study it was recommended that more awareness should be created as regards the availability of sale of local foods, more of local food dishes should be included in hotels menu, biological garden should include local food in their services and improvement should be made in areas of packaging and cleanliness so as to attract more customers.
