However none of the frameworks that have been discusse consider internal factors as contributing to the visitor experience. The internal factor includes various aspects that are embedded in the individual visitor and may relate to visitor demographics, and travel situational aspects such as travel purpose, length of visit, and travel party. As has been noted by Ryan (2002), such aspects can affect travel-related decisions made by the visitor at each stage of the experience, which in turn influences the quality of the overall experience.
Furthermore, although most of the existing frameworks view and examine experiences as sequential phases, none has been developed with a specific focus on visitor dining experiences with local food in destination settings. This gap is important, given the increasing tendency of international visitors to travel to destinations for local culinary experiences, where this can enhance the overall destination experience (Henderson et al., 2012). A conceptual framework is needed that acknowledges the complexity of the visitor experience as multi-phased, multi-influential, and multi-outcomes, while incorporating suitable elements of the existing studies that have been discussed, in order to understand how international visitors experience local food in destination settings. The present paper therefore aims to address this research gap.