Geographic influences affecting these growing sectors
According to World Food Travel Association culinary or food tourism is the pursuit and enjoyment of unique and memorable food and drink experiences, both far and near.” This definition actually means that there is a group of travelers who are visiting different places in order to try out its local cuisine as well as taste some drinks especially wines.
According to the International Culinary Tourism Association, culinary tourism is growing exponentially every year. (USA Today, 27 Feb 200) This trend seems to be developing since early 2000s. "It's definitely a growing market. I think it's becoming a very important market as a subset of cultural tourism," said Dr. Rich Harrill, director of the International Tourism Research Institute at the University of South Carolina (CNN.com, 1 Sep 2006). Even though, almost every group age is presented in culinary tourism people in their 40s and 50s age seems to be the largest group of travelers.
The main goal of culinary tourism is to explore local food trends, find out more about cooking technologies as well as get familiar with food history of the place tourists are visiting. There are several types of culinary tourism which include eating, baking and sampling wine or beer. The last one seems to one the most famous type of culinary travelling. In comparison to American wines which have grapes displayed on the label European wines usually prefer to cite the region of production.
Another reason for increasing popularity of food tourism is so-called “Rejection of MacDonalisation” which describes model of low cost mass production of food all over the world. Tourists are now seeking for local, fresh and good quality cuisine that reflects the authenticity of the destination (Food or Gastronomic Tourism, 21 Nov 2012).
According to USA Today most preferable destinations are located in Europe and North America such as Germany, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, France, Scandinavia and US.
The World Food Travel Association states that on average, tourist whose culinary activities are the key reason for the trip spend around $1,200 per trip, with over a half of their budget going towards food-related activities. So, culinary tourism seems to very profitable to the local businesses.
References:
World Travel Association (2013)
USA Today
Sabah Karimi. (2007, February). What is Culinary Tourism?
Retrieved from: http://traveltips.usatoday.com/culinary-tourism-1910.html
CNN
Marine Hunter (2006, September 21). A growing taste for culinary travel
Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/09/01/trips.food.tourism/index.html
Barcelona Field Studies Center (2012, November 2012). Food or Gastronomic Tourism and Rural Development
Retrieved from: http://geographyfieldwork.com/FoodTourism.htm
