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Elements of Food Service Design for Low-Carbon Tourism -Based on Tourist Behavior and Attitudes in China

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11 April 2023

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12 April 2023

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Abstract
One of the key issues in sustainable tourism research is the gap between tourists' expressed friendly attitudes towards sustainable behaviors and their actual behaviors. Although many "low-carbon" themed restaurants have emerged during the low-carbon transformation of the Chinese tourism industry, low-carbon food services have not been significantly improved. This study takes food as the entry point to explore tourists' behavior and attitudes towards low-carbon tourism in relation to food. We conducted two interviews. The first interview was a semi-structured contextual interview with 120 tourists who had experiences in food streets, aim-ing to identify the core user group: low-carbon attitude-friendly tourists with high-carbon food behaviors. The second interviews was an in-depth interview based on grounded theory with 29 core users, analyzing the four main reasons for their high-carbon food behaviors and their re-quirements for low-carbon food services in tourism. Based on this, we extracted four design ele-ments for low-carbon tourism food services: low-carbon information show service, low-carbon service product attractiveness improvement, low-carbon food environment atmosphere creation, and service providers' low-carbon behaviors. Through these four service elements, we constructed a low-carbon tourism food service design framework based on the core users' needs, discussed the mechanism of service elements, and provided service design suggestions accordingly. The re-search results serve tourism providers, low-carbon tourism researchers, and designers.
Keywords: 
Subject: Arts and Humanities  -   Other

1. Introduction

Warming is a serious environmental and developmental concern facing humanity today, and carbon emissions from tourism make a significant contribution to warming, according to studies [1]. China’s carbon emissions and environmental pollution are very serious. In 2009, the State Council of China released Document 41, which defined tourism as a pillar industry of the national economy and highlighted the necessity for tourism to prioritize energy saving and emission reduction [2]. As China’s tourism industry continues its low-carbon transition, numerous eco-friendly restaurants have sprung up and gasoline-powered vehicles are being replaced with electric vehicles. More emphasis is placed on low-carbon-tourism facilities, scenic area construction, and energy consumption at tourist destinations by the tourism industry [3]. Food systems are a major contributor to carbon emissions and that food consumption is considered an important experience in the tourism process. After Brown and Belisle examined the influence of food on tourism, food gradually became the focal point of tourism study [4,5,6,7]. More tourists visit cities than natural environments as tourist destinations [8]. In China’s popular tourist cities, numerous low-carbon restaurants have opened, and local governments have enacted numerous laws to assist the development of low-carbon-tourism food [9]. In the past, China’s tourism food development in the low-carbon transition concentrated mostly on low-carbon energy consumption in tourism restaurants, low-carbon procurement, and restaurant transportation [10]. Few tourist restaurants are concerned with low-carbon food service, particularly the attitudes of tourists about the transition of tourist food service to be low-carbon. Today, not only do specialists concentrate on low-carbon technology research in tourism, but they are also beginning to consider the impact of low-carbon-tourism consumption, particularly the low-carbon intentions of tourists, on low-carbon tourism [11]. Some studies on the environmental attitudes of tourists indicate that those with higher environmentally conscious attitudes are more inclined to prioritize environmentally responsible conduct [12,13,14,15,16]. However, studies have shown that pro-environmental attitudes do not always translate into pro-environmental behavior among tourists, and some pro-environmentalists engage in less environmentally responsible behavior while traveling [17,18]. So the real behaviors of low-carbon tourists and the reasons for the change in their behaviors and needs for low-carbon-tourism services need to be studied in depth.
Figure 1 shows, from a service design professional’s perspective, the six tasks between the tourist and the service provider. They are accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, entertainment, and food [19]. Numerous scholars have undertaken in-depth studies on tourism transport and low-carbon destination planning, Teng-Yuan Hsiao finds differences in what experts and tourists consider important in a low-carbon-tourism system, with tourists focusing more on food arrangements for low-carbon-tourism design [20]. More emphasis is placed on the user in service design. The design of low-carbon tourism must take into account the perspectives of tourists. Developing more comprehensive low-carbon-tourism indicators requires a focus on design elements from the standpoint of travelers [21]. Therefore, we focus on food in six tasks, and in this study tourism food refers to tourists’ food-related behaviors during tourism [22], and through the analysis of tourists’ low-carbon attitude mining and real food action, we determined the reasons for low-carbon attitude-friendly tourists to produce high-carbon food action in real tourism behavior, and their requirements for low-carbon tourism food service in order to extract low-carbon tourism food service design elements.
The tourism experience process is divided into pre-tourism, during tourism, and post-tourism [23]. Service implies the interaction between the provider and the served recipient, and food service is the interaction between the food service provider and the consumer [24,25]. This study focuses on consumers’ dine-in experience behavior during tourism. Figure 2 demonstrates the research focus of this study.
We conducted semi-structured situational interviews based on grounded theory, and the research questions were: What are the causes of high-carbon food actions in core users? What are the core users’ requirements for low-carbon services for tourism food? Construction of a design framework for low-carbon tourism food services.
Based on the above research questions we finally obtained the core users’ high-carbon food motivation and their requirements for low-carbon tourism food service. And based on this, we construct a low-carbon tourism food service design framework based on the core users’ needs. Our contribution is to provide food low carbon service design suggestions and theoretical support for Chinese tourism cities and famous food tourism destinations, especially areas dominated by large food districts. Ultimately, the research results may help to promote the development of low carbon services in China’s tourism industry.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Low-Carbon Tourism Food Service

Low-carbon tourism is a response in action to the notions of sustainable tourism and ecotourism; it is a mode of operation [26]. Low-carbon tourism is an approach to tourism development that is directed by sustainable tourism and focuses on low-carbon technologies and consumption [27,28]. Low-carbon consumption also includes the tourist food consumption, food consumed by tourists during tourism is referred to as “tourism food” [29]. Sustainable consumption of food is also mentioned in the sustainable food reports on sustainable food as an important component of sustainable food [30]. In a book published in 2020, China’s Green Consumption Initiative describes green consumption practices such as energy-saving acts, resource conservation, waste separation, not wasting food, local food, and decreasing solid waste [31,32]. In food service, it is divided into hard and soft systems, with physical products and products collectively referred to as hard systems and human activities collectively referred to as soft systems [23]. Tourists will experience the food service through six tasks: Search, order, wait, eating, pay, and after meal [33,34]. Several academics believe that local cuisine can contribute to sustainable tourism while molding the destination’s image [35,36,37]. Some scholars have also conducted low-carbon studies on the production process of food products, suggesting low-carbon proposals in sourcing, preparation and presentation [38]. The low-carbon nature of food itself has also been studied by many scholars, who found that meat has a larger carbon emission than other foods [39,40]. Carbon emissions can be reduced through changes to food services that influence the behavior of tourists and providers.

2.2. Low-Carbon-Attitude-Friendly Tourists

There is no definitive definition or evaluation criteria for low-carbon -attitude-friendly tourists. Low-carbon tourism is a means of achieving tourism sustainability; therefore, our study of low-carbon- attitude-friendly tourists refers to the research literature on pro-environment tourists. Tourists’ low-carbon attitudes refer to tourists’ attitudes towards low-carbon tourism when conducting tourism activities [41]. Many scholars have found that when visitors are more concerned about the environment, they are more likely to be less likely to produce behaviors that harm the environment [42,43]. Carbon behavior of tourists refers to the behavior of tourists in relation to carbon emissions while performing tourism activities [44]. pro-environmental behavior includes a willingness to pay more for green hotels, to save water and energy, to reduce waste, and to recycle during tourism [45]. Tourists who dispose of solid waste properly and spend more on local products are pro-environment tourists who are more concerned about carbon offset vouchers, product eco-labeling, tourism charity and environmental issues [46,47]. Studies of tourists have focused more on their attitudes toward low-carbon, and fewer researchers have conducted studies of actual tourist behavior. However, some studies have also found a gap between the environmental attitudes expressed by tourists and their real travel behavior. After they express friendly attitudes, but they hardly renounce the pleasure of less sustainable choices [48,49].
In summary, the majority of studies on low-carbon tourism food have concentrated on the low-carbon nature of the food production process and the food itself. Most tourist studies are centered on quantitative analyses of visitors’ propensity to travel in low-carbon tourism and the establishment of pro-environmental tourist scales, but few researchers have evaluated travelers’ actual behavior after researching their attitudes. So it is very important to study the low carbon service of tourist food through the attitude and behavior gap of tourists.

3. Research Methods

We first conducted a desk research, which can help this study to better understand the current status of the low-carbon transition in China’s tourism industry. Secondly, user research and analysis were conducted based on grounded theory using the interview method, Figure 3 shows the research process of this study.

3.1. Grounded Theory

Grounded theory is a set of analytical methods that are organized and generalized from primary sources, With the development of grounded theory, three schools of thought have been formed, namely, “classical grounded theory,” “procedural grounded theory,” and “constructivist grounded theory [50]. This study analyzed the user interview data based on the coding method of procedural grounded theory. The main reasons for using this research method are as follows:
This study is without a direct hypothesis, and its variables and experimental model are unclear as food service involves a complex service system with various stakeholders [51].
1) On the other hand, this study was unable to predict the behavior and requirements of food-service providers and visitors in advance. Therefore, it is necessary to use the exploratory Grounded Theory and conduct in-depth interviews to uncover the underlying elements and relationships [52].
2) Procedural grounded theory often uses purposive sampling, which is consistent with the purpose of our study [53].
3) The coding method of procedural grounded theory can make our element extraction process clearer [54].

3.2. Interview Method

In qualitative research, the interview method is one of the most widely used and most researched methods by researchers to uncover the real behavioral and psychological characteristics of research subjects [55,56]. The reasons for using the interview method in this study were:
1) It is difficult to obtain more realistic responses in the form of questionnaires, both in terms of finding tourists’ high-carbon food actions and tourists’ attitudes toward low-carbon tourism.
2) Interviews can leave relatively sufficient room for participants to think and express themselves, and the researcher can also carefully observe the external expressions and internal psychology of the interviewees, so as to understand as deeply as possible the attitudes and emotions of the interviewees towards this dine-in low-carbon service.
3) The exploration of participants’ food actions and attitudes requires the researcher to guide the participants to recall a complete dine-in experience, and the researcher can help the participants recall more details through continuous and repeated questioning.
Therefore, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the tourist dine-in experience and to discover the real food behavior of low-carbon-attitude-friendly tourists, we used only the interview method for the user study.
Two semi-structured contextual interviews were conducted for this study, to unpack the research purpose-based conversation around the tourists’ food experiences and guide tourists to articulate how they were acting at the time and their moods and attitudes in a particular context [57]. The second in-depth core user interview was conducted to discover the reasons for the high-carbon food actions and their requirements for low-carbon-tourism food services.
The recruitment of participants needs to take into account differences in food available in different regions of China and differences in the food consumption of tourists [58]. In the first random food street interviews, four cities in South, North, Central, and Eastern China were chosen (GuangZhou, BeiJin, ChengDu, XiaMen). These four cities are known for their morning tea, northern food, hot pot, and seafood respectively [59,60,61,62]. We selected interview moderators in each city in close proximity to well-known tourist destinations. On the same holiday, four moderators randomly selected tourists on the street until each obtained 30 valid interview texts [63] (see Appendix A for specific participant information). After analyzing the interview data, we obtained 29 core users. The participants in the second in-depth interview were 29 core users, a group of tourists who were somewhat conscious of low-carbon environmental protection and friendly towards low-carbon-tourism food practices. Their high-carbon food actions are much easier to change [11,64]. Each participant consents to the use and disclosure of their information. Table 1 shows a summary of the two interviews.

4. Research Process and Results

4.1. Analysis and Results of the First Interview Data Collection

4.1.1. First Interview of Data Collection

A total of 120 valid text data were collected in the first interviews. The purpose of the interviews was to discover the high-carbon food actions of the participants, as well as to find the core users. Each interview lasts for 5–10 minutes. Table 2 shows the participants information.
Before beginning an interview, moderators should have a clear understanding of the primary interview objectives, but they should not have any predetermined preconceptions [65]. For smooth data collection, we designed the interview guide before the interview as shown in Table 3. The first part of the interview guide was constructed to collect information from the participants, The second part to guide them—in a way that did not indicate the purpose of the study—to recall the actions that arose during the food experience [30,33,34]. The third part explores participants’ attitudes toward low-carbon information, products, services, and rules of restaurants during their tourism food experiences [41,45,46,47]. The framework for the interviews was formed based on the main purpose of the first round of research, while the detailed interview questions were based on realistic interview situations and the sensitivity of the moderators.

4.1.2. First interview of Analysis Results

Food-related tourism carbon emissions are associated with food waste, garbage accumulation, and resource and energy waste caused by tourists [66,67]. From the interview data, we obtained 33 food actions. After excluding non-carbon-related actions that do not result in high-carbon emissions, a total of 10 high-carbon food actions remained. Table 4 shows the summary of the participants’ high-carbon food actions.
We searched for 36 tourists who have a friendly attitude towards low carbon by analyzing the interview data from the participants’ attitude part. Table 5 shows an example of friendly tourist screening.
Out of the 36 tourists who have a friendly attitude towards low carbon, 29 had high-carbon food actions. In terms of participants’ real food actions and attitudes towards low-carbon tourism, we divided the participants in this interview into four categories as shown in Figure 4.
Tourists in Category A are friendly to low-carbon tourism but have some high-carbon actions when it comes to real food experiences; they are concerned about low-carbon service in restaurants and have some low-carbon awareness, only that high-carbon actions arise for various reasons. Category B is for tourists who have a friendly attitude towards low-carbon tourism and do not act in a high-carbon way during their food experience, who have a good awareness of low-carbon and are aware of the environmental impact of their actions and show it in their real actions. Category C is for tourists who are not concerned about low-carbon tourism, feel that low carbon is not very important in tourism, and have real high-carbon actions. Category D is for tourists who are not concerned about low-carbon tourism and feel that low carbon is not very important in tourism, although they did not have any high-carbon food actions this time. Users of category B are well in control of their actions without much help. Users in categories C and D, because of their poor attitudes towards low-carbon tourism, find it difficult to make design interventions. Category A tourists have a friendly attitude towards low-carbon tourism and are more likely to intervene in action by design, so our core user group is the category A users. Their needs for low-carbon-tourism food services are more worthy of our attention.

4.2. Analysis and Results of the Second-Interview Data Collection

4.2.1. Second interview of Data Collection

A total of 29 valid text data from in-depth interviews were collected in the second interview. Participants are 29 core users. Table 6 shows the participants information.
Each interview lasts for 30-40 minutes. The purpose of this interview was to discover the reasons for the high-carbon food actions of core users and their requirements for low-carbon-tourism food services. Based on the results of the first interview, the interview guide explores core users in two ways: first, to explore the causes of their high-carbon food action, and second, to explore their requirements for low-carbon food services. Interview-specific questions were asked based on the results of the first core users interview. Table 7 shows the second interview guide.

4.2.2. Second interview of Analysis Results

Due to the large number of Chinese transcripts involved in the interview sample and coding process, only the results of the analysis are presented in this study.
The original core users interview data was processed based on Grounded Theory to uncover the reasons for core users high-carbon food actions and suggestions for low-carbon food services. A total of 145 sentences were extracted from the section on the causes of high-carbon food actions, and the inductive classification yielded a total of 34 initial causes and 12 sub-causes after secondary induction. A further grouping of the 12 sub-causes revealed that the reasons why core users would have high-carbon food actions fall into four main categories: (A) the participant is limited by real conditions (75.86%), (B) the participant is influenced by others (65.52%), (C) the participants’ actions are influenced by food attitudes (62.07%), and (D) the participant has a lack of low-carbon knowledge(48.28%).
Open coding is a conceptualization of the source material that has been repeatedly categorized and generalized. A total of 153 raw sentences were extracted from the original text about low-carbon food services. A total of 35 low-carbon food-service needs were obtained by analyzing user touchpoints and psychology from the perspective of user research. Table 8 shows the process of extracting the service design needs.
Axial coding is a further conceptual refinement based on open coding, specifies the attributes and dimensions of the categories [68]. We classified semantically similar concepts among the 35 service needs extracted and distilled them into 12 categories. Table 9 shows the classification results.
Selective coding is the exploration of the intrinsic connection between axial codes [69].
Find the main categories and inductively refine them to obtain the core categories that can connect all categories [70]. We studied low-carbon tourism food services and identified four low-carbon tourism food service design elements according to the logical relationship between different service categories: Low-Carbon Information Show Service, Low-Carbon Service Product Attractiveness Enhancement, Low-Carbon Food Environment Atmosphere Creation, Low-Carbon-Behavior of Service Provider. We annotated the extracted categories, and Table 10 shows the main and relevant category concepts.

5. Discussion

With the above coding results, the corresponding main and core categories were extracted in this study. The core category enables the extracted service design elements to be strung together into a coherent whole. Our core category is Food Low-Carbon Service, food low carbon service means the low carbon service that tourists experience when they do food related activities. The structure of the “storyline” is the Low-Carbon Information Show Service and Low-Carbon-Behavior of Service Provider are the realistic conditions for the design of low-carbon tourism food services, the implementation of low-carbon tourism food service design requires service scenarios with low-carbon information display and service providers with low-carbon literacy, Low-Carbon Service Product Attractiveness Enhancement and Low-Carbon Food Environment Atmosphere Creation are the realization path of Low-Carbon Tourism Food Service Design realization, enhancing the attractiveness of Low-Carbon service products and creating a Low-Carbon service environment can improve the quality of low-carbon tourism food service. Based on the “storyline”, the framework of Low-Carbon Tourism Food Service Design was constructed. Figure 5 show the framework of Low-Carbon Tourism Food Service Design.

5.1. Realistic conditions: service scenarios and service personnel guarantee the realization of low-carbon tourism food service design

Low-Carbon Information Show Service and Low-Carbon Behavior of Service Provider is the foundation of low-carbon tourism food services design, which is a realistic condition to have. Low-Carbon Information Show Service and Low-Carbon-Behavior of Service Provider constitute the foundation for the realization of low-carbon tourism food services design, and are the essential conditions that must be met. The presence of Low-Carbon Information Show Service and Low-Carbon-Behavior of Service Provider directly impacts the establishment of low-carbon tourism food services. There is an interplay between Low-Carbon Information Show Service and Low-Carbon Behavior of Service Provider. A complete low carbon information show service can help service providers to provide more specific low carbon services to core user. Low carbon behavior of service providers can help core user to better understand the low carbon information displayed.

5.1.1. Low-Carbon Information Show Service

Low-Carbon Information Show Service is the scene condition for implementing low-carbon tourism food service design. The low-carbon tourism food service design system cannot be separated from the scene with low-carbon information display, which can better convey the information of low-carbon food, rules, and knowledge in the restaurant to users through service design, so that users can understand the complete information of low-carbon products and the low-carbon services provided by the restaurant. Through interviews, we found that users expect low-carbon information displays to be more intuitive and distinct from other types of information displays. The guiding information should include all necessary information to help users make informed decisions.

5.1.2. Low-Carbon Behavior of Service Provider

Low carbon literate service providers are the personnel condition to achieve low carbon tourism food service design. Low-carbon tourism food service needs to be provided by low-carbon literate service providers to provide professional, timely and proactive services to users. Professional low-carbon services by service providers can give users confidence, timely services can help users better avoid high-carbon food actions, and proactive services can help users understand the restaurant’s low-carbon products and low-carbon rules. Through the interviews, we found that the core users prefer the service staff to improve the low-carbon service standard, especially the two aspects of service quality assurance and low-carbon reminder to the users.

5.2. Realization Path: Service Products and Service Environment to Enhance the Effect of Low-Carbon Tourism Food Services

The Low-Carbon Service Product Attractiveness Enhancement and Low-Carbon Food Environment Atmosphere Creation are ways to enhance the effect of low-carbon tourism food services, and they are the realization path to promote the development of low-carbon tourism food services. There is also interplay between Low-Carbon-Service-Product-Attractiveness Enhancement and Low-Carbon-Service-Environment Atmosphere Creation. Enhancing the quality of service products through intelligence, ease of see and humanized can reduce the burden on the service environment and create a more low carbon service environment for core user. Low-Carbon-Service-Environment Atmosphere Creation positively influences the low-carbon service product by creating a low-carbon image of the service tool, the service staff and the service restaurant, and increases core user trust in the service product.

5.2.1. Low-Carbon Service Product Attractiveness Enhancement

Low-Carbon-Service-Product-Attractiveness Enhancement is the product path to promote the development of low-carbon tourism food services. In order to enhance the low-carbon experience of core users, the intelligence, ease of seeing and humanization of service products should be enhanced. Service products must be able to give users positive feedback. The feedback method can be rewards or voice prompts. As core user do not receive feedback, it is difficult for them to maintain low-carbon behavior; thus, designing a multi-sensory response service approach to give core user timely low-carbon feedback on their food behavior can increase their confidence and willingness to be low-carbon [71,72]. The core users in the interviews mentioned that they wanted low carbon food services to be more interesting and reliable.

5.2.2. Low-Carbon Food Environment Atmosphere Creation

Creating a low-carbon service environment is an effective way to promote the development of low-carbon tourism food services. By providing have low-carbon evidence service tools and enhancing the low-carbon image of service personnel and restaurants, a low-carbon food environment can be created, which can subtly influence core users’ high-carbon food actions. Through interview, we found that core user easily combine “clean” with “low-carbon,” and clean products or a clean environment allows them to subconsciously maintain low-carbon actions with more ease. Therefore, the most important thing to focus on when creating a low-carbon atmosphere in restaurants is the clean visual image.
Based on the above analysis, under the background of low-carbon transformation in the tourism industry, future low-carbon tourism food service design should consider low-carbon information display design, Low-carbon ordering system design, low-carbon food environment design, and low-carbon service training for employees. We have provided design suggestions for these four design directions according to the analysis results. Table 11 shows the design suggestions for low-carbon tourism food services.

6. Conclusions

The majority of the direct outcomes of high-carbon behavior in tourism dining-in experiences are related to food waste and restaurant-material waste, according to the findings of this study. The production of methane during the disposal of food waste has made food waste a significant global problem in recent years. Methane is a high-emitting greenhouse gas, and methane emission reduction is also a way to achieve low-carbon tourism [73,74].
Our research focuses on the dine-in experience of tourists during their travels and introduce the concept of low-carbon-tourism food. Our study identifies the core users by analyzing the food behavior and attitude towards low-carbon among tourists. Through analyzing the underlying reasons for the high-carbon behavior of core users and exploring their needs for low-carbon tourism food services, we aim to extract key design elements for low-carbon tourism food services.
The reasons for high-carbon food behavior among core users can be categorized into four main categories: (A) limited by real conditions, (B) influenced by others, (C) influenced by food attitudes, and (D) lack of low-carbon knowledge. Based on these reasons, we identified 35 core user needs for low-carbon tourism food services, which were further categorized into 12 subcategories and four main categories: (1) Low-Carbon Information Show Service, (2) Low-Carbon Service Product Attractiveness Enhancement, (3) Low-Carbon Food Environment Atmosphere Creation, and (4) Low-Carbon Behavior of Service Providers. We identified the core category of Low-Carbon Food Service and developed a systematic framework for Low-Carbon Tourism Food Service Design based on the needs of core users. Realistic conditions for building low-carbon tourism food services include Low-Carbon Information Show Service and Low-Carbon Behavior of Service Providers, while Low-Carbon Food Environment Atmosphere Creation and Low-Carbon Behavior of Service Providers can help promote the development of low-carbon tourism food services.
It is also crucial to recognize that our study has some limitations; the element extraction data comes solely from tourists, the study area is limited to four cities in China, and the applicability to other types of tourists and other nations and locations is not addressed in this paper. In order to obtain real feedback from the core user, the data was collected using an interview method and the analysis of primary data using only qualitative analysis, which also has limitations.
In the future, based on this study, the research objects of the study can be extended to low-carbon-tourism-friendly-tourists-with-high-carbon-behaviors in tourism transportation, sightseeing, entertainment, shopping, and accommodation to observe whether their real tourism behaviors are low-carbon. The scope of the study will also take into account pre-tour and after-tour studies in order to provide a complete observation of the tourism behaviors of the research object. The research methodology will use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods for the next steps in the design and experiments. The aim will be to reduce the high-carbon behaviors of low-carbon-tourism-friendly tourists in terms of tourism transportation, tourism sightseeing, tourism entertainment, tourism shopping, and tourism accommodation, and to better achieve the goal of low-carbon tourism.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Y.L. and Y.P.; methodology, Y.L.; software, Y.L. and C.L.; validation, Y.P. and Y.L.; formal analysis, Y.L.; investigation, Y.L.; resources, Y.L.; data curation, Y.L.; writing—original draft preparation, Y.L. and C.L.; visualization, Y.L. and X.Z.; supervision, Y.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Data Availability Statement

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article. The raw data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Appendix A

Guang Zhou Age Gender Source Education Work
vg1 35 male local tourists Three-year college education Self-employed
vg2 43 female local tourists Three-year college education Government staff
vg3 29 male local tourists Master Corporate staff
vg4 27 female local tourists Bachelor’s degree Government staff
vg5 31 male local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vg6 30 male local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vg7 26 female local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vg8 42 female local tourists Bachelor’s degree Self-employed
vg9 25 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vg10 27 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vg11 22 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vg12 23 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vg13 25 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vg14 26 female non-local tourists Master Student
vg15 24 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vg16 30 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vg17 27 female non-local tourists Three-year college education Government staff
vg18 31 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vg19 22 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vg20 23 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vg21 27 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vg22 29 female non-local tourists Master Teacher
vg23 35 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Self-employed
vg24 38 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vg25 45 male non-local tourists Three-year college education Self-employed
vg26 46 female non-local tourists Three-year college education Government staff
vg27 20 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vg28 21 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vg29 22 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vg30 21 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
Beijing Age Gender Source Education Work
vb1 32 male local tourists Bachelor’s degree Government staff
vb2 25 female local tourists Master Student
vb3 27 female local tourists Master Corporate staff
vb4 22 female local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vb5 36 male local tourists Bachelor’s degree Self-employed
vb6 37 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vb7 34 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vb8 32 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vb9 29 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vb10 41 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Government staff
vb11 26 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vb12 26 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vb13 29 female non-local tourists Doctor Student
vb14 32 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Self-employed
vb15 30 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Self-employed
vb16 34 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vb17 29 female non-local tourists Three-year college education Self-employed
vb18 30 male non-local tourists Doctor Student
vb19 32 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vb20 31 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vb21 37 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Self-employed
vb22 37 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Government staff
vb23 34 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vb24 26 male non-local tourists Master Corporate staff
vb25 24 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vb26 27 female non-local tourists Master Corporate staff
vb27 23 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vb28 22 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vb29 20 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vb30 25 male non-local tourists Master Student
Cheng Du Age Gender Source Education Work
vc1 23 female local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc2 22 female local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc3 24 male local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc4 21 male local tourists Three-year college education Student
vc5 27 female local tourists Master Student
vc6 31 male local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vc7 25 female local tourists Bachelor’s degree Government staff
vc8 28 female local tourists Bachelor’s degree Self-employed
vc9 19 female local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc10 18 male local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc11 24 female local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc12 27 female local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vc13 28 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Government staff
vc14 32 female non-local tourists Doctor Teacher
vc15 33 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vc16 23 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc17 22 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc18 23 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc19 23 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc20 24 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc21 22 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc22 20 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc23 21 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc24 20 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc25 20 male non-local tourists Three-year college education Student
vc26 21 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc27 23 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc28 24 male non-local tourists Three-year college education Corporate staff
vc29 24 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vc30 28 female non-local tourists Master Government staff
Xia Men Age Gender Source Education Work
vx1 24 female local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vx2 46 male local tourists Three-year college education Government staff
vx3 26 female local tourists Master Student
vx4 27 male local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx5 22 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx6 23 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx7 19 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx8 19 female non-local tourists Three-year college education Student
vx9 18 male non-local tourists high school Student
vx10 24 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx11 26 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Corporate staff
vx12 23 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx13 24 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx14 26 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Self-employed
vx15 23 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx16 22 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx17 20 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx18 21 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx19 20 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx20 21 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx21 23 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx22 23 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx23 19 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx24 20 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx25 21 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx26 20 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx27 19 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx28 24 male non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx29 24 female non-local tourists Bachelor’s degree Student
vx30 26 male non-local tourists Master Student

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Figure 1. Tourist-Experience Interaction Model.
Figure 1. Tourist-Experience Interaction Model.
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Figure 2. Research Focus.
Figure 2. Research Focus.
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Figure 3. Research process.
Figure 3. Research process.
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Figure 4. Classification of participants.
Figure 4. Classification of participants.
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Figure 5. Low Carbon Tourism Food Service Framework.
Figure 5. Low Carbon Tourism Food Service Framework.
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Table 1. Summary of the two interviews.
Table 1. Summary of the two interviews.
Title 1 First interview Second interview
Period 10.1, 2022 10.10–19, 2022
Participants People who have experienced food street tours in four famous tourist cities 29 core users
Methods Semi-structured situational interviews In-depth interview
Purpose Core users High-carbon food actions motivation and need for low-carbon-tourism food services
Interview framework Participant Information Collection Reasons for participants’ high-carbon actions
Participant food behavior[30,33,34]
Participant low-carbon attitude[41,45,46,47] Participant needs for low-carbon tourism food services
Table 2. First interview participants information.
Table 2. First interview participants information.
Item Frequency (person) Percentage (%)
AI 120 100
Gender Male 49 41%
Female 71 59%
Age <=20 16 13%
21–30 78 65%
31–40 20 17%
>40 6 5%
Education High school 1 0.83%
Three-year college Education 11 9.17%
Bachelor’s degree 93 77.5%
Master 12 10%
Doctor 3 2.5%
Table 3. First round of interview guide.
Table 3. First round of interview guide.
Purpose Framework
1. Participants information Basic Information.
2. Participants action Guiding participants to recall a recent complete dine-in meal, and find what do participants do in the following steps?Search, order, wait, eating, pay, and after meal
3. Participants attitude Tapping into participants attitudes towards this food experience:1) Attitudes towards low-carbon products, services, or rules.2) Attitudes towards the cost of low-carbon products or services.3) Attention span to low-carbon-tips information.
Table 4. Summary of participants’ high-carbon food actions.
Table 4. Summary of participants’ high-carbon food actions.
Action
1. Littering everywhere
2. Discarding takeout food
3. Continuous or repeated heating of food
4. Took menus from many different restaurants and discarded them
5. Asking for Additional Disposable Dining Room Sets
6. Using lots of paper towels to wipe down the table or tableware
7. Leftovers are not taken out to eat elsewhere
8. Accidentally ordering food that contains ingredients they can’t eat
9. Ordering too much food
10. Ordered a set meal but did not finish it
Table 5. Example of participant attitude refinement.
Table 5. Example of participant attitude refinement.
Participant No. Original Sentence Secondary Refining Attitude
B5 “I have used a carbon credit applet for scenic spots, yes, I think it’s fun, and you will get points for buying low-carbon drinks.” Think low-carbon services are interesting. Friendly attitude towards low-carbon products, services or rules during the tour.
“I will take the initiative to pay attention to the sign of saving paper, directly, the four large characters are directly printed on the paper box and are very conspicuous.” Proactive attention to low-carbon information. Have a concern for low-carbon-tips information during the tour.
Table 6. Second interview participants information.
Table 6. Second interview participants information.
Item Frequency (person) Percentage (%)
AI 29 100
Gender Male 14 48%
Female 15 52%
Age <=20 3 10%
21–30 17 59%
31–40 7 24%
>40 2 7%
Education High school 0 0%
Three-year college Education 2 6.9%
Bachelor’s degree 23 79.31%
Master 1 3.45%
Doctor 3 10.34%
Table 7. Second round of interview guide.
Table 7. Second round of interview guide.
Purpose Framework
1. Reasons for high-carbon food behavior of core users Multi-angle consulting
Continuous consulting
2. Requirements for low-carbon tourism food service of core users what would enable you to reduce this type of action?
what do you think the service provider can do to improve?
what are your requirements for improvement methods?
Table 8. The extraction process for the open coding.
Table 8. The extraction process for the open coding.
Participant No. Original Sentence Touch Point psychological Needs No. Core User Needs
B5 “It is not necessary to use paper towels, this cloth is hot to the touch, I will feel disinfected and clean” Warm to the touch Hot = sanitized = clean N1 The restaurant provides tools that can be identified as sterilized
G13 “When he gives it to me, he can take it out of the disinfection in front of me and give it to me and I will feel cleaner.” Saw the waiter take it out of the disinfection cabinet Disinfection cabinet = sterilized = clean
Table 9. 12 Categories.
Table 9. 12 Categories.
Categories Service Needs
Low-carbon Food information show service Food low-carbon information should be fully displayed
Low-carbon foods should be distinguished from other foods when displayed
User low-carbon action rules show service The display of guidance information should be complete
Low-carbon slogans should have memorable elements
The guidance information display for garbage sorting should be easy to see
Low-carbon knowledge propaganda show service Display the harmful content that is relevant to users’ daily lives.
Display position in line with visual habits
The design expression should be able to stimulate users’ visual or auditory senses.
Low-carbon label show service The design style of labels should be consistent.
Label design that can be considered as low carbon
Visually appealing labels
Intelligence enhancement Users can get feedback
Be easily comparable
Timely updates
Self-service matching
Easy-to-see enhancement Low-carbon evidence that can be seen
interesting introduction
Transparent production process
Humanized enhancement Exclusive offers for low carbon products
Low Carbon Theme Activities
Recommendations based on user preferences
Disposal of leftover food
Tools with low-carbon evidence Use clean rags
Can determine the disinfected tools
Tools with low carbon logos
Service staff image Wear a clean uniform
Uniforms with low-carbon guidance
Restaurant image Authoritative evidence that can be seen
Have a uniform style of decoration
A clean environment
Service quality of the service provider Cleaning service carefully
Avoid direct contact with dining tools
Fully understand low-carbon food
Service provider reminder Find and stop users’ high-carbon actions
Provide low-carbon remediation advice
Table 10. Composition of the main category.
Table 10. Composition of the main category.
Main Category Main Category Connotation Corresponding Category Corresponding Category Connotation
Low-Carbon Information Show Service The Show service of low carbon information means that low carbon tourism food service needs to show low carbon related information Low-carbon Food information show service The low carbon tourism food service needs to have a complete low carbon food information display service that is different from other foods.
User low-carbon action rules show service The low carbon tourism food service needs to provide users with complete, easy to read, easy to remember instructions on low carbon rules for user food actions.
Low-carbon knowledge propaganda show service The low carbon tourism food service needs to show users low carbon related knowledge.
Low-carbon label show service The low carbon tourism food service needs to have a uniform style of product display with low carbon labels.
Low-Carbon Service Product Attractiveness Enhancement Low carbon service product attractiveness enhancement means that the enhancement of low carbon tourism food service needs to focus on the core attractiveness of the service product Intelligence enhancement The enhancement of low carbon tourism food service needs to focus on the intelligence of low carbon service in restaurant service products.
Easy-to-see enhancement The enhancement of low carbon tourism food service needs to focus on the ease of seeing low carbon services in restaurant service offerings.
Humanization enhancement The improvement of low carbon tourism food service needs to focus on the humanization of low carbon service in restaurant service products.
Low-Carbon Food Environment Atmosphere Creation Low carbon service environment atmosphere creation means that the enhancement of low carbon tourism food service needs to create a low carbon atmosphere of food experience environment. Tools with low-carbon evidence The enhancement of low carbon tourism food service needs to show users evidence of the low carbon of the service tools.
Service staff image The enhancement of low carbon tourism food service needs to create a low carbon image of the service staff.
Restaurant image The enhancement of low carbon tourism food service needs to create a low carbon image of the restaurant.
Low-Carbon Behavior of Service Provider Low carbon behavior of service providers means that low carbon tourism food services need service providers who can maintain their own low carbon behavior Service quality of the service provider Low carbon tourism food service needs to have service providers who can guarantee the quality of their services.
Service provider reminder Low carbon tourism food service needs service providers who can provide low carbon reminders to users.
Table 11. Design suggestions for low-carbon tourism food services.
Table 11. Design suggestions for low-carbon tourism food services.
Design Direction Suggestions
1. low-carbon information show design A separate area for show low-carbon food.
The information on low-carbon food should be displayed in full, especially the price, ingredients, and proof of low-carbon credentials.
The posters or media promotional materials for low-carbon knowledge should focus on content that is relevant to users’ daily lives.
Design expressions should use impactful colors.
The appearance of low-carbon labels should be uniform, using trees or other elements related to low-carbon design.
Display logos on utensils and tools in restaurants.
The information display for guiding processes in areas such as trash and self-service stations should emphasize the beginning and the end.
The slogan for guiding processes should be fluent.
Simple information feedback should be provided for steps that may confuse users.
2. Low-carbon ordering system design Complete information classification with color differentiation of food.
UX writing needs to be short and interesting.
Icon design to increase the user’s link to low carbon.
The introduction of food can be presented in an anthropomorphic manner.
The low-carbon steps of the production process can be shown in a moving image.
Low-carbon food offers can be marked on the menu and on receipts.
Products can be conspicuously labeled as low carbon.
Low-carbon food on smart devices with a separate link module.
New low-carbon food information up to date.
Shopping cart that displays specific information about different foods.
The low-carbon food in the set can be freely replaced.
Daily push based on user’s browsing and frequently visited restaurants.
3. low-carbon food environment design Exhibit packaging and utensils’ environmental friendliness
Use energy-saving equipment
Decorate with natural elements such as wood and bamboo as much as possible
Minimize the use of plastic utensils
Similar decorative items to other low carbon themed restaurants
Display authoritative low-carbon certifications in a prominent position
Uniform color and style for fresh-looking employee uniforms
Employee uniforms with low-carbon logo printed on them
Clean and spacious restaurant environment with simple table setting
4. low-carbon service training for employees Proactively introduce low carbon food features and offers to users when ordering.
Encourage users after they choose low-carbon food.
Describe the procedure and outcomes of waste disposal.
Provide tableware with temperature.
Secondary cleaning of the table in front of the user.
Proactive introduction to low-carbon food purchased by users.
Serve users using trays or wearing gloves.
Proactively alert users to high-carbon actions and offer more low-carbon alternatives.
Inform users that they can independently use the low-carbon services.
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