Food tourism, also known as culinary tourism and food tourism, is done by people looking for culinary experiences to broaden their understanding of a culture or lifestyle while traveling. Culinary tourism or gastronomic tourism or gastronomic tourism is the exploration of food as the purpose of tourism. It is considered a vital component of the tourist experience. Eating out is common among tourists and food is thought to occupy an important place for tourists along with the weather, accommodation, and scenery.
Traveling with food means moving with the aim of exploring the gastronomic offer of a destination. Exploring the pleasures of the table has always been associated with moments of leisure, but on a gastronomic journey, the culinary experience is no longer just a complement, but the main motivation to choose a destination and to explore it. Food tourism, or culinary tourism, is traveling beyond your immediate neighborhood to find good food. Culinary tourism became prominent in 2001 after Erik Wolf, president of the World Food Travel Association, wrote a white paper on the subject.
However, we must bear in mind that food lovers, who are becoming a more important part of the market, tend to spend more than 25% of the average and it is reasonable to expect that this number will continue to increase as the number of people belonging to the foodie category increases in the coming years. . Food tourism isn't about dining luxuriously, it's about adventurous dining and learning about new cultures along the way. The link to food is a universal language, after all, no matter where you come from, food is undoubtedly part of your story.
According to the UNWTO (World Tourism Organization), the average tourist spends approximately one third of their total vacation budget on food. However, like everything else in this world, gastronomic tourism is evolving and includes more different activities. The World Food Travel Association acts to bring these sectors together to form the “food tourism industry cluster”. It outlines a destination development strategy to put a destination on a foodie's map by identifying all food and beverage resources, bringing them together, weighing their value, evaluating market forces, and engaging key stakeholders.
FoodTrex events showcase ideas and case studies that foster innovation and excellence in food and beverage tourism. And as people become more open to trying new cuisines, the food tourism market continues to grow. For them, “traveling for food sounds very basic and banal, almost like cavemen looking for food or looking for food in a grocery store. Unlike what some people think, gastronomic tourism is much more than enjoying a meal or a good glass of local wine while traveling.
Every tourist eats about three times a day, which makes food one of the fundamental economic drivers of tourism.
