Theory and Practice in Hospitality and Tourism Research includes 111 contributions from the 2nd International Hospitality and Tourism Conference 2014 (Penang, Malaysia, 2-4 September 2014), and covers a comprehensive range of topics, including: - Hospitality management - Hospitality & tourism marketing - Tourism management - Technology & innovation in hospitality & tourism - Foodservice & food safety - Gastronomy The book will be of interest to postgraduate students, academics and professionals involved in the fields of hospitality and tourism.

The changing needs in the population and the growing health-concern that is germinated in today's society have led to healthier lifestyle practices. People consume healthy and balanced diets and participate in various kinds of activities from mainstream exercises to sport and wellness centers. Likewise, tourists seek to participate in activities that improve their health and well-being, including visits to health and spa centers at a particular holiday destination. It argues that a deep understanding of consumers profiles and their key motivations is vital in sustaining the growth of health and spa tourism business. This monograph highlights the qualitative study on tourists' motivational factors of using health and spa facilities in five-star resorts.

Each ethnic besides language, belief and religion, has their own food, cuisine and food culture practices. Food and beverages in fact have long been an important element for every ethnic festival with various cooking methods, equipments and eating decorum. The vast of the ethnic festival foods treasures however are believed to have some transformation or alteration due to the waves of modernization. This monograph highlights the qualitative study on the extent of modernization influences Malaysian ethnic festival foods and foodways and its impact to the young generation practices.

Preparation and consumption of food or foodways have long been a central position and one of the most essential components in the Malay matrimony or wedding. These matrimonial foodways practices not only act as social event but catalyst the interrelationship, interaction and social bonding among the individuals in the community. The waves of modernization however are believed perpetually alter the practices. This monograph highlights the empirical investigation on the level of alteration of the Malay matrimonial or wedding foodways and its impact on the community social bonding.

In today's sophisticated environment demand by restaurant customers for the highest levels of efficiency, quality, flexibility and dependability in the service delivery system has increased tremendously. Many restaurant businesses recognize that attaining customer satisfaction through efficient service delivery is a key to their business survival and they are well aware that having a loyal base of satisfied customers increases sales, reduces costs and builds market shares. This study examines the extent of restaurant service delivery attributes influences Malaysian customers' patronization. Customers' assessment through their dining experiences of the service delivery attributes and intention of re-patronization in two types of ethnic restaurants (Indian Muslim and Malay restaurants) were specifically investigated. With a significant amount of data gathered through personally administered questionnaires and series of analyses, valuable information and useful insights that associates the service delivery with the restaurant customers' propensity or predictors were obtained.

This study explores the moderating variables that influence a student's decisions to enter into a hospitality management programme and subsequently pursue a career in the hospitality industry. It also examines how these factors are implicated in or modify a student's career commitment over time. The sample includes students enrolling in various three year (6 semester) diploma and undergraduate programme offered by Malaysian hospitality institutions of higher learning over the academic years of 2002- 2003. This includes four public or government funded institutions with several branch campuses, and six private institutions. Predominantly the data for this study based are on self completion questionnaires with some additional insight particularly about respondents' direction of industry employment provided by means of qualitative responses. The initial comparisons are made between students in the public and private institutions and these are followed by an extensive series of analyses examining the differences and similarities of respondents' rating in the two rounds of data collection with reference to a range of independent variables.