Dining as a Gateway: The Impact of Ethnic Restaurants on Encouraging Travel to Cultural Origins

This study explores how Portuguese ethnic restaurants influence Chinese tourists’ intentions to visit Portugal. Addressing a gap in existing literature, it applies dramaturgical theory to construct a model incorporating substantive servicescape, communicative servicescape, immersion, authenticity, and travel intention. A mixed-methods approach was adopted: a quantitative survey with 342 valid responses confirmed the research framework, followed by qualitative interviews with 16 participants to explore in-depth relationships. The findings validated the model and identified four key themes. Notably, the study differentiates the roles of the two servicescapes, showing that immersion has a stronger impact than authenticity on travel intention. These qualitative research insights extend the application of dramaturgical theory to ethnic restaurants and offer valuable theoretical and practical implications for tourism marketing and cross-cultural consumer behavior.