Balancing familiarity and novelty: the interplay of cultural familiarity and food neophilia in shaping tourists’ local food experiences

Cultural familiarity and food neophilia both shape tourists’ local food experiences. However, limited research has explored how these factors interact within tourists’ psychological processes. This study applies approach-avoidance motivation theory to examine how cultural familiarity influences emotional responses, destination food image, place attachment, and behavioural intentions, with food neophilia serving as a moderator. Data were collected from 401 domestic tourists in Yangzhou, China, a UNESCO City of Gastronomy. The results from Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) show that cultural familiarity enhances emotional engagement, which in turn strengthens destination evaluations and behavioural intentions. The moderating effect of food neophilia indicates that familiarity and novelty jointly shape tourists’ desire for both comfort and new experiences. These findings contribute to tourism theory by introducing a dual-motivation framework into food tourism research. From a managerial perspective, the study offers practical insights for destination marketers. Cultivating ‘unexpected familiarity’ by blending familiar cultural elements with novel experiences can help reduce travel anxiety, strengthen emotional engagement, and increase destination appeal and revisit intentions.