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1. Introduction
Tea is an integral part of food service (Jolliffe, 2007). Tea drinking was considered elite and high-end fashion, from which tea rituals and arts arose (Yang, 2007). A cup of tea is contemplated as a ubiquitous sign of hospitality, whether at home or in a commercial hospitality setting (Walton, 2001). Coffee and tea are consumed for a myriad of purposes worldwide, including as a daily beverage for health and well-being, ceremonies and gift-giving (Hedrick et al., 2010; Kaplan, 2017; Lin, 2017; Pinto, 2013). On the contrary, tea tourism (TT) has recently seized a large portion of the international market because of its green and sustainable tourism attributes. Tea was considered the most widely consumed beverage in the World; in 2016, 2.9 million tons of tea were consumed globally, consumption trend increased to 3.3 million tons (Euromonitor International, 2017).
Furthermore, Bedford (2020) asserted that the tea industry was worth approximately US$52bn, with an expected increase to nearly US$81.6bn by 2026. Recent growth in special interest tourism (SIT) has positioned tea as a type of niche tourism (Macleod, 2003), making the destination more enticing (Kraftchick et al., 2014). India, Nepal, China, Sri Lanka and Japan are among the emerging TT hotspots where personalized and commercial TT is practiced (Joliffe and Zhuang, 2007). Contemporary tourists seek authentic and one-of-a-kind experiences in beverage appreciation and consumption, while tea encourages both by becoming a “symbol of hospitality.” Within the TT experience, tourists obtain a chance to prepare the tea making, derive the experience of local cultural festivals as well. As culinary traditions, along with pristine rivers and cascades, lush green fields and an array of flora and fauna; thus, travel agents are more willing to promote the sector with a visitation schedule of tea gardens with mesmerizing and picturesque tea views.
TT, as an “alternative form,” is recognized as a tool for socioeconomic development (Su et al., 2019a, 2019b), bridging sociocultural bonding and harmony, also fosters rural economies and destination image building (Casalegno et al., 2020; Magar and Kar, 2016). Therefore, tourism researchers explored several frameworks, identified measures, and developed new applicable models (Medina-Muñoz et al., 2003; Abreu-Novais et al., 2016). Several studies have been conducted on different aspects of TT, such...