台灣因其特殊的歷史背景，造就了豐富多樣的飲食文化。對外國觀光客而言，「美食」已經成為一個非常顯著的台灣文化。在短暫的遊程中，外國觀光客能藉由體驗台灣小吃來滲透地方文化和地方產生連結。儘管小吃在觀光產業中佔有重要的地位，但在觀光相關研究中卻鮮少提及。因此，本研究主要目的在於探討外國觀光客對於台灣小吃之意象與體驗價值，且依此目的採現地問卷調查方式，驗證觀光客之個人因素與外在影響因素對其小吃意象之影響，且探究其意象與最終體驗價值間之影響關係。 本研究在六個觀光景點針對來台之外國觀光客進行便利抽樣，共回收有效問卷共400份，並採用因素分析與結構方程式進行資料分析。研究結果顯示，受訪者本身之旅遊食物偏好、新奇食物接受度、美食涉入程度均顯著影響其小吃意象，且進而影響其最終之體驗價值。然而，媒體、政府機構或朋友等外在影響因素對其小吃意象並無顯著影響。這意味著政府推廣、業者行銷與口碑宣傳都仍有待加強。同時，觀光客帶著既有偏好來體驗台灣小吃，對於不熟悉的小吃接受度也不高，且以享用美食為樂，喜好以小吃會友。因此，無論在國內或國外，政府或業者應製造更多讓觀光客認識台灣小吃的活動或機會，減低其陌生的感覺提高接受度，同時也可提供體驗小吃製作等互動機會，讓觀光客在享用小吃之餘也能擁有快樂體驗，增進娛樂價值。 Taiwanese cuisines are a sincere expression of local culture, and serve to call attention to a locale’s history and special features. Providing international tourists with a unique sensory experience, cuisines have an intangible emotional value, but their attractive power has largely been overlooked. Thus, the main purpose of this research is to discuss the international tourist’s image and experiential value of Taiwanese cuisine . A total of 400 valid questionnaires were collected from 6 tourist hot spots. The data was analyzed by factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results of this study indicate that all of tourists’ internal factors, which comprised personal preference, attitude and involvement, have significant effects on Taiwanese cuisine image and then affect their experiential value. However, the external factors, which comprised the promotional effects from friends or government, have no effect on their cuisine image. It means that the government or travel agencies should endeavor to promote more cuisine activities abroad so that international tourists may be familiar with Taiwanese cuisine then enhance their image and experiential values.
