Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Research (AHTR) 2147-9100 2148-7316 Akdeniz University 10.30519/ahtr.1618662 Tourism (Other) Turizm (Diğer) From Aroma to Ambience: Leveraging Sensory Marketing in Traditional Restaurants https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5911-5120 Siagian Hendra Sakti Putra Universitas Satya Terra Bhinneka https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1369-0864 Putri Hidayatna Universitas Satya Terra Bhinneka Advanced Online Publication 01 13 2025 08 12 2025 Copyright © 2013, Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Research (AHTR) 2013 Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Research (AHTR)

The use of sensory cues in marketing can provide valuable experiences for consumers when visiting restaurants especially the traditional one through the five senses of consumers. This study seeks into how sensory cues affect customer decisions by using a hybrid analytical technique with PLS-SEM and fs-QCA on a sample of 352 consumers who visited local heritage dining places in Lake Toba, Indonesia. The results from PLS-SEM show that gustative, olfaction, and haptic signals make customers much more attractive, whereas visual and auditory signals have a smaller influence. The fs-QCA study also finds the best combinations of sensory signals that make customers more desirable. These results show how important it is to use both visual and gustative-based sensory marketing methods to make local heritage dining places more appealing to customers. Restaurant management should focus on original flavors, make the smells more appealing, and improve the overall sensory experience to draw in consumers. The study adds to our understanding of sensory marketing by showing how it may be used in local heritage dining places.

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