CULINARY TOURISM

 What is culinary tourism?

Culinary tourism is simply travelling beyond your immediate neighbourhood to find

great food. As mentioned by the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance (OCTA), culinary
tourism includes any “tourism experience in which a person learns about, appreciates,
consumes, or- dare we say- indulges in food and drink that reflects the local cuisine, heritage,
or culture of the place”. The further you travel, the wider the range of culinary experiences
enjoyed. It is not about the food you eat; food tourism is not necessarily about dining
luxuriously, but more about eating adventurously to seek out new culinary experiences. Or
we can say that culinary tourism is experiencing the food of the country, region or area, and
is now considered a vital component of the tourism experience. Then, culinary tourist is
someone who is motivated to make a journey in order to engage in some kind of food or
drink experience. The goal of culinary tourism is to educate and inspire food and wine
enthusiasts while giving the traveler a chance to explore the local area and learn about local
food trends, cooking techniques and food history.

 Major Concept and Ideas

 gastronomic routes: itineraries defined by food experiences
 Food and drink festivals
 Education: culinary schools
 Gourmet and luxury food travel: small but high-spending niche (about 8%)
 other subsets include wine and beer tourism, chocolate tourism etc.
 local cuisine and authenticity: - eating like the locals, street foods, farmer's
markets
 sustainable food travel
 Food rituals and customs as a window into culture and country
  Types of food tourists

4 types of culinary tourists

1. Recreational
They prefer familiar foods to feel safe and comfortable in a destination. They
seek fast-food chains, package tour foods, and restaurants with a predictable menu.
After the trip, no change to pre-visit behavior occurs. They rely on word of mouth and
other authentic sources.
Spending time with good friends and being somewhere that feels familiar and
safe are key motivations for tourism. In wine, for example, the general wine tourist
visits a vineyard, winery, or wine festival for the purpose of recreation. The
motivation is not wine per se, but the desire to have a relaxing day out. Values include
respect for others, family roots, frugality, and stability.

2. Diversionary
They love to party and are social but aren’t really concerned about the setting.
They would rather not take the time and energy to research dining information. Rather
recommendations and top-10 lists are preferred. Values include excitement, courage,
investment, and responsibility for oneself.
3. Existential
They seek out local and regional cuisine and eat where the locals eat. ‘Tourist’
means ‘Westernized’ hotel/resort food and fast food while the farmer’s market means
‘authentic’ and local. Existentialists are relaxed and laid back, preferring simple and
rustic food places over gourmet and fancy.
They search for authentic sources of travel information on the internet, such as
personal travel blogs, and read specialized travel literature (e.g. James Michener’s
series). They’re interested in travel cookbooks that will transport them into another
world. Magnus Nilsson’s The Nordic Cookbook is a perfect pre-travel study of the
Nordic region with more than 700 recipes and gorgeous landscape photography.
4. Experimental
They are trendy and embrace the latest foods, flavors, and cooking techniques.
They seek out restaurants with innovative menus, smart designs, and chic service.
They travel for personal indulgence, to experience the good life with fine cuisine and
 being pampered. They are the tourists who seek no t only vineyards but a specific
grape wine.
They read stylish food and travel magazines, such as Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine,
Bon Appetit, and Saveur. They travel with a detailed itinerary. Time management is
important, and experimentalists want to maximize their time at the destination.

 Top 10 culinary destination

1. Rome
2. New Orleans
3. Marrakech
4. Beijing
5. Melbourne
6. Oaxaca
7. San Sebastian
8. Istanbul
9. India
10. San Francisco

 Pros of culinary tourism

 Tourists will be more familiar with different types of places and foods that are
associated with those places
 New sales opportunities and growth of restaurants and food vendors
 New money flowing into the host community
 Experiencing "authentic" cuisines
 Very diverse (different cultures, wine tasting, farmers market, luxury and
gourmet food travel) which can appeal to different types and travelers
 Cooks can seek new ideas for their own menus and have more knowledge on
different types of food

 Cons of culinary tourism

Increased costs and management time of the host community and restaurants
Language barrier if traveling to foreign country
Tourist may be dissatisfied with food
 People would rather be doing and spending money on other things than just food
while a particular destination

Disadvantages (depending upon implementation some of these can turn into advantages)

 cultural destruction, (modernization (world mono-culture), freezes culture as

performers, loss: language, religion, rituals, material culture.)
 primary products (sun, sand, surf, safari, suds, ski, sex) (little value added, neo-
colonialism)
 environmental destruction (motorization, game drives, resorts: golf, ski, shoreline
development, desert and oasis over development, world as play ground, SUV.)
 marginal employment (low skill, low wage, menial services, prostitution, drug trade,
gambling, curio seller, hustlers.)
 low benefits (no job security, no health care, no organizing, no work safety rules or
enviro standards.)
 development of illegal and/or destructive economic activities (markets for drugs,
endangered species, etc.)
 outside hiring (skilled middle and senior management recruited from out of the area
and transferred in.)
 concentration employment (walled resort enclaves.)
 seasonal employment
 outside decision making (decisions made outside of the area, corporate dollars corrupt
government.)
 unrealistic expectations (divert young people from school and brighter futures.)
 anti-democratic collusion (industry support of repressive governments)
 land controlled by the elite (people relocated, agriculture eliminated, prohibited from
N.P.)
 negative lifestyle's (STD's, substance abuse, begging, hustling)
 diverted and concentrated development (airport, roads, water, electricity to tourist
destinations, development not accessible to locals),
 little forex stays in country (airplanes, vehicles, booze, hot air balloons, generally
have foreign owners),
 package programs
 cruises (eat and sleep on board so the economic benefits to the ports-of-call is very
thin and limited.)
 unstable market (fickle, affected by local and world events, generally highly elastic)
 health tourism (traveling to get medical procedure at lower cost) has it own set of
unique challenges, which include: Determining the credential, skills and quality of the
facility and personnel. Language communication challenges on topics requiring a lot
of details, sometimes even when both parties seemingly speak the same language.
Different cultural issues and expectations around health care and the body. Post-
treatment complications, after the "tourist" has left the facility.

Solutions (for visitor)

 act to support cultural diversity

 engage in activities that add value to the community
 don’t do activities that deteriorate the environment
 don’t engage in illegal activities
 act to disperse the benefits
 patronize locally (community) owned enterprises.

Solutions (for the host)

 support the traditional cultural legacy

 training and education in local culture, history, natural science, etc.
 select development and activities that draw from local traditions and add value to the
community
 don’t promote activities that deteriorate the environment
 don’t engage in illegal activities
 adopt a program to disperse the benefits
 patronize locally produced products and locally (community) owned enterprises.
 make business and foreign exchange transactions transparent and efficient.