Food-related personality traits and novelty-seeking travel motivation suggest conflicting projection on tourist food preference. How food-related personality traits interact with novelty pursuits to influence tourists' preferences and consumption remains unknown.

The existing studies on tourist food preference tend to analyse food-related concepts in isolated but obscure their connection with broader tourism concepts.

By reconnecting a food-specific concept with overall tourist novelty-seeking motivation, this study provides a more holistic understanding of the tourist experience with food.