THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Principal Investigator Prof. S. P. Bansal
Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi University, Rewari
Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Prashant K. Gautam
Director, UIHTM, Panjab University, Chandigarh
Paper Coordinator Prof. Nimit Chaudhary
Head of Department, Hotel, Hospitality & Heritage studies, Jamia Millia Islamia
Content Writer Dr. Rahul Pratap Singh Kaurav Assistant Professor,
Prestige Institute of Management, Gwalior, MP
Content Reviewer Prof. Monika Prakash Nodal Officer, IITTM Noida Paper 13: Destination Management
Module 40: Culinary Tourism and Destination Management
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction 2. Cuisine tourism
3. What is Culinary Tourism?
4. Who is Culinary tourists?
5. Types of Culinary Travelers
6. How Culinary Tourism is Associated with Destination Management?
7. Benefits of Culinary tourism
8. Best Practices for Developing a Culinary Destination 9. Module References
QUADRANT –I
After completing this module students will be able to:
i. Understand the needs of developing good variety of cuisine ii. Various factors influencing cuisine of a destination
iii. Various aspects of cuisine: nature, characteristics & its types
iv. How to better manage the variety of cuisine in regards of destination management.
ITEMS DESCRIPTION OF MODULE
Subject Name Tourism and Hospitality Management Paper Name Destination Management
Module Title Culinary Tourism and Destination Management
Module Id 40
Pre- Requisites Basic knowledge about cuisine & destination management Objectives To study how to use cuisine heritage for destination management
Keywords Cuisine, management, tour, destination
v. Aid in better portrayal among your understanding towards destination management and its aspects
40.1 Introduction
Tourism is always a growing business and has far-reaching economic and environmental impact across the world. For a successful business in tourism industry there is a plan of many managers and planner of destinations, which is considered as DMOs (Destination Management/ Marketing Organisations) or corporations. The responsibilities of these organisations starts from the identification of the possible destination attractions for tourist, through proper and planned development of the destinations, to promote the destination among the prospective crowd. Previous module has presented a role of these organisations in managing crisis and handling the rescue operations. This module will connect you with another dimension of DMOs, that is how to promote a destination to a tourist with special interest.
This module will take you through that how to differentiate cuisine tourism and culinary tourism. Further, this module will explain that who is considered as culinary tourist and what are the different types of culinary travellers. This module will also link you to that how culinary tourism is associated with destination management and benefits of culinary tourism. Towards the end some strategically developed culinary tourist destination will be discussed.
Countries like Azerbaijan, Brazil, France, Georgia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, and Thailand, are known for their popular cuisine and a segment of tourists visit these countries only because of culinary preferences. India is also becoming a favourable culinary tourist destination. Definitions of food tourism or cuisine based tourism or culinary tourism explicitly mention food as an important or main motivational factor for travel of tourists with interest in food.
The ICTA, Portland, US (International Culinary Tourism Association) defines culinary tourism as, “the pursuit of unique and memorable eating and drinking experiences.”
Culinary tourism happens when visitors seek to experience both cuisine and culture together. Few examples of culinary tourism contain the famous wine tourism in
California, maple syrup tasting in Vermont, cheese sampling in Wisconsin, and Cajun food experiences in Louisiana. A diverse range of businesses including farms, restaurants, cooking schools, tour operators, breweries, wineries, gourmet or specialty food stores, and several other related businesses across the country have exploited on their regions’ culturally unique gastronomies to attract visitors.
40.2 Cuisine tourism
Food constituents a vital portion of historical culture & heritage of a destination and country. Therefore, from the goals of sustainable tourism development (which is regarded as of prime importance for Tourism authorities like UNWTO) the preservation &
progression of regional/domestic cuisine is required. Cuisine means the variety of foods
& beverages. Every particular destination has some special & authentic offerings in their foods & beverages section. This speciality of such destinations in their offerings of food
& beverages in the form of cuisine should be exploited in a meaningful manner which would result into leveraging speciality factor to that particular destinations.
The part of food during a trip can be seen as the core desirability which is supportive involved in the growth of the daily life. The investigator specified that high standing is to be given or food should be acknowledged as the main sightseer’s activity. The researchers further suggested that the authorities & local public should take effective steps to develop charms including cuisines at the holiday destination (Quan & Wang, 2004).
Food nowadays has been recognised as:
• The element of the provincial ethos and values which explorers consume.
• Element of vacationer advertising;
• The elementary part in the regional, rural & economic growth of a destination in particular.
• Element of the native coefficient which is inclined by the feeding habits and affectations of the travellers.
The importance of food as an integral part in every holiday/ destination can be understood by the fact that travellers spend around 40% of their holiday budget on food (Boyne, Hall & Williams, 2002). According to Graziani (2004) Nowadays hotels create 50% of their income through tourists and these facts are constantly increasing towards
70% benchmarks. These evidence specified the connection & effect amid food & the tourism sector (Karim, 2006). Karim (2006) further stated that the increasing demand and supply of regional food resulted into a new sector in tourism as “local food”. Countries like Italy, Thailand and France had benefited a lot by marketing their local cuisines at national & international levels. Furthermore, such sustenance has been recognized as a well-organized promotion and marketing tool for a province (Hjalager & Richards, 2002).
Numerous scholars argued that cuisine (food) tourism should be best integrated with Culinary tourism. However, Culinary tourism is regarded as the broader classification of cuisine tourism. Culinary tourism is a comprehensive cataloguing which involves the activities of cuisine, lifestyle, regionalism, environment, rurality and health in it.
40.3 What is Culinary Tourism?
Culinary tourism comprises a huge diversity of actions such as food centenaries, cyclical crops, agronomist’s bazaars, cookery institutes, coffee tasting, farmhouse vacations which are primarily established for visitors and domestic trekkers (Deneault, 2002).
It embraces any travel experience in which an individual study about, appreciate, consumers o food and drinks that replicates the native food, tradition, or philosophy of a place. Culinary tourism is not restricted to epicurean diet. It is about what is exclusive, unique and unforgettable about the sustenance stories the provinces/destination have to tell. For such purpose the native experiences from local people like farmers, fishers, bakers, gardeners, winemakers and everyone in between is counted.
Figure 2: Various aspects of Culinary tourism (Mason & O’Mahony, 2007)
Culinary tourism is defined as the quest of unique and memorable eating and drinking experiences. By combining travel with these eatable experiences, food leisure industry offers both locals and tourists identical true palate of place in the generous sphere.
According to Smith (2007) culinary tourism as “tourism trips during which the purchase or consumption of regional food (including drinks), or the observation and study of food production represent a significant motivation or activity. Culinary tourism concerns the self-aware and mindful interest in experiencing a destination through its foods."
Considering the above aspects, the culinary tourism is mainly depended on its cuisine &
its multiple varieties. From the preview of cuisine, Culinary tourism means to travel with the interest in food has many known names in the tourism sector. The most used names are food tourism, culinary tourism, food and wine tourism, food and beverage tourism, gastronomy tourism, rural tourism, cuisine travel, cuisine tourism, gourmet tourism, and taste tourism, which all contain the idea of travelling to experience and taste the local food products (Henderson, 2004). It remarks the worth of food making & feeding and so the variety of places where culinary foodstuffs can be bought and experienced (Mason &
O’Mahony 2007).
Tourism is backed up by the wish of travellers to experience one’s own culture and to seek for contact with other cultures (Robinson, 1999) where food and beverages play a leading role in the culture, exclusivity and identity of a destination. Food & beverages this could be argued to be one of the main reasons why the interest in food and wine tourism is growing (Telfer & Hashimoto 2003).
Another hint that shows that the interest in cuisine experiences is increasing is the huge number of food, wine and travel magazines. It also includes the high number of TV channels orientation towards cooking shows and food habits in all the countries available in many languages (Telfer & Hashimoto 2003). Now a day there is increasing trend of the food journalists, food channels and famous chefs influence the population, food based competitions in such a way that even what, where, when, how and why they should eat is told (Bell & Valentine, 1997).
40.4 Who is Culinary tourists?
Various research studies have been conducted till date in multi dimensions concerning different destinations, yet the researchers lack in detail which makes it hard to draw exhaustive and suitable properties of the culinary tourist and their enthusiasm or behaviour (Hall & Sharples 2003).
In the year 2004, Grihault & Koya defend a culinary tourist as “above-average-income professionals in their 30s to 50s, which is primarily the same market as for cultural holidays”. However, according to Murray (20011) in the existing literature culinary explorers are defined as holidaymakers who spend major amount for food and beverages as compared to other tourist activities such as shopping, playing, enjoying, etc. during their holidays.
40.5 Types of Culinary Travelers
Murray (2011) further classified such culinary tourist into three wide clusters namely:
primary, secondary and tertiary.
Primary travellers: Who are food enthusiastic and their main focus & intent is for their cuisine experience
Secondary travellers: Their focus for cuisine tourism shed with another tourism influences like shopping, enjoyment with family, visiting sites, etc.
Tertiary travellers; Cuisine tourism is not their primary intent or motive in holidays. It acts as a complementary or subsidiary aspect of their original purpose.
Figure 3: Types of Culinary Tourists (Source: Murray, 2011)
Travel Activities and Motivation Survey (TAMS) delegated by the Canadian Tourism Commission, project led by Getz & Brown 2006 and Lang Research Ind. 201. It questioned 46284 Americans and Canadians about the food and wine preferences. Results of the study indicated that approx. 13% of Canadians and approx. 18% of Americans are interested in holidays with special connections to food and wine. The implemented segmentation identified that young couples; adolescent singles have the highest curiosity in culinary tourism. This interest gets stronger the higher the family income and education. Another test within the TAMS study revealed that tourists who have the highest motivation in food and wine based holidays also took part in cultural activities.
The same respondents also favoured the resorts, lodges, spas, B&Bs, and gourmet restaurants based accommodation for stay (Getz & Brown 2006).
Murray (2011) worked with the TAMS in 2006 and analysed their data of the culinary tourists and found that any tourist should already be counted as a culinary tourist after involving in just one of these activities?
Food/Beverage festival
Cooking/wine tasting courses
Visit vineyards tasting wine
Shop or browse through retail store of gourmet foods
Dining at restaurants which use local recipes and ingredients
Visited food processing plants such as a milk processing unit and cheese factory
Went for fruit picking at farms or open fields
Went to breweries for tasting and day visit
Dining at a farm
(Stayed at) Cooking school (informal and formal both)
(Stayed at) Country inn or resort or open area, because it had a gourmet eatery
(Stayed at) Wine tasting school
40.6 How Culinary Tourism is Associated with Destination Management?
It is still not well researched that what role food and beverages play in promoting a destination. Du Rand & Heath, (2003) have commented that one of the biggest problems regarding culinary tourism marketing is that regional cuisines are not presented sufficiently in promotional materials, which are used for tourism marketing. What is deep-rooted is that regional food surges the capability of sustainable tourism. It reinforces the regional economy, supports the environment-friendly infrastructure and is part of the novelty of a destination. India has witnessed that cuisines of India were not promoted well in the initial stage, but now a day it is getting famous. It can be evidenced by looking international channels and the TV shows about Indian cuisine.
This aspect of developing, displaying and promoting culinary tourism in the right way to entice as much possible tourists as possible. If the destination management decides on how to promote culinary tourism, it can then be progressively used as a branding and promotion instrument for the destination. Countries or national level DMOs can learn
from success stories from other nations and use benchmarking to compete on the global market.
Through food tourism, the destinations can explore and fix their cultural uniqueness and their positioning strategy can also be assured. Managers of destinations can save the destination by being replaced and overtaken by competitors. Uniqueness can be shown through symbols or ambience, which is unique for the destination. It is a benefit to promote a variety of offered tourism products and services in an area than focusing on one.
Hashimoto and Telfer (2003) testified that more research and effort needs to be made to attract more local, national, and domestic tourists to culinary attractions. Additionally, it is crucial to elaborate policies to promote brand loyalty to the local visitors and by doing so gaining echoing customers. Though, It will be a key task of collecting marketing information and information about the consumer behaviour and establishing loyal clients in case of wine and food.
Through branding, destinations can develop awareness of the destination, create a positive image of the destination and raise the promotion of the destination in the consumer market. To brand a destination effectively, it is essential to expand the brand awareness and to develop strong brand recognition in the mind of the tourist which comprises the name of the brand, logo, symbols, slogan, and packaging (Hashimoto &
Telfer 2006).
Recent figures indicate that the number of wineries that are showed online increased.
Therefore, wineries need even more to differentiate themselves from their players. Extra services and products will help to distinguish them from contestants (other destinations).
Cooking schools, restaurants, trials, events, and sleeping facilities at the winery could be used as a promotional tool to appeal more tourists to visit the winery.
Destination management organisations in South Africa see speciality cafes and eating homes at the main key mechanisms of food tourism, followed by regionally/locally produced food products, special cuisine/food routes, and food festivals. DMOs in South Africa rely on the old traditional promotion tools to communicate the information to the tourists about food tourism. The brochures, pamphlets or media commercials sadly
primarily consist of restaurant information and not of the cultural heritage or traditional culinary experiences which are offered in the region.
For implementing food tourism as a successful tourist attraction, the regional products and their providers need to be branded as the local products of the area. Additional tasks which require teamwork of all stakeholders from the destination are:
Empowerment of SMEs to set up food services which use ingredients from the local area;
To create a feeling of the local community of being proud of their food based on local cuisine;
The development of an official stamp which labels the ordinality of regionally produced food.
The NTCF (National Tourism and Cuisine Forum) was held in Halifax, Canada in 2001 to advance Canada as a gastronomic destination for the domestic and global market. The forum advised recommendations for the destination managers as:
Organizing a yearly event which presents the destination as an international quality wine area and gains the attention of the tourist belongs to high-income group;
To improve the signature, information booklets, guides, directories and maps of the existing wine routes;
Establish sub-brands of the wine route brands.
The representatives from the tourism, travel and food industry introduced a National Tourism and Cuisine Database (NTCD) which is accessible on the internet and bring together the organisations and people who inspire and develop Canadian cuisines in a lively way (Hashimoto & Telfer 2006).
The progress of “Cuisine in Canada” comprises of various items (see figure 4). The high number of immigrants visiting Canada influences the culinary situation. The centre of the bottom part of the figure is the marketing or promotion. One part is the development
strategy of NTCF with their suggestions for endorsing Canada as a culinary destination which are:
Making a national and regional brand image in the minds of tourists interested in various cuisines,
Emphasis on the private marketplaces and to develop knowledge of culinary tourism in the tourism bazaar.
Figure 4 emphasised the importance of collaboration between the food industry and the management or DMO as well as the culinary tourism joins with other tourism products (Hashimoto & Telfer 2006).
Figure 4: Marketing of cuisines in Canada (Source: Hashimoto & Telfer, 2006)
Programs and companies which were developed through the NTCD improved the communication between the different members of the association and tourist using marketing materials. Also, it had contributed to minimizing economic leakages by developing more trust in local products among food and beverages consumers.
Additionally, farm based businesses which were part of the alliance used direct promotion to attract more tourists.
About the tourist needs, Williams and Dossa (2003) conducted a study which has shown that culinary or cuisine based tourists, who have not been to the destination earlier, require more backing (support) and information at the destination than other forms of tourist. At tourist offices, the service should also include support for the organisation of
Food Producers, Processors, Products, Place Restaurants
Canadian food influenced by multicultural backgrounds Canadian
Cuisines
Products
Partnership
Print and electronic media and word of
mouth NTCF
Strategy Provincial
Strategy
Regional Associations Gastronomy Routes Festival and Events Destinations Individual
Operators
Marketing
Cuisines in Canada
Tourism Links
the holiday and develop a continuing to customer service relation which persists till the departure of the tourists. This particular service requires specific customer service training which will improve the experience of culinary tourists. The training can be divided into several parts. One part of that training should be that the staff learns about all the potentials of culinary tourism from the region which can be offered to the tourists.
This can include vineyard tours, wineries which offer cellar door tasting and sell their products, bike routes through the countryside, scenic viewpoints, cultural landmarks, farms, markets, and local restaurants (Williams & Dossa 2003).
40.7 Benefits of Culinary tourism
According to (Hall & Mitchell, 2000) culinary tourism aid in brand recognition and loyalty, enhance customer exposure to products, higher profits, educational chanses, additional sales outlet and marketing opportunity for products and clients.
Maintainable substructure where the source of local and imported food is held
It reinforces the genuineness of a province by workable ways of tourism due to which local economy is supported.
Cultural and natural landscapes are acknowledged from culinary tourism.
It ensures the protection of old traditions in relation to food and wine products as well as prepared dishes.
It also aids in imparting marketing skills among the locals when they market their local food (cuisines) to the tourists.
40.8 Best Practices for Developing a Culinary Destination
The International Culinary Tourism Association has released guidelines, which is actually useful when starting a culinary tourism business, assessing an existing operation, or seeing a community-wide initiative to indorse culinary tourism, consider the best practices described below:
Focus on Authentic & Unique Experiences
Create a “Destination”
First Impressions Make a Difference
Know Your Customers
Work in Partnership
Comply with Health, Zoning, & Environmental Regulations
Plan for the Future 40.9 Case Studies
This module is connected with several case studies, which are considered important for promoting food tourism and culinary based tourism in India. Following are some of the case studies to discuss:
40.9.1 “Dilli ke Pakwan Festival” by Delhi Tourism
The Delhi Tourism’s seven days long annual event on culinary enjoyments “Dilli ke Pakwaan” at Baba Kharak Singh Marg in Delhi observed a new attraction “Khaoo Gali”
with the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI). They have put up their stalls there to showcase their culinary expertise, and acumen.
Figure 5: A scene from “Dilli Ke Pakwan Festival” (Source: www.nasvinet.org)
Thousands of people have crowded the Khaoo Gali street food stalls and realised how such street foods had added charm and diversity to the festival which otherwise is mainly dominated by the prominent caterers and food chains. Last evening, a group of foreign tourists visited the street food stalls and relished Jhaalmurhi, Soyabeen Chaap, Poori
Bhaji, Rasma-Paranthe, Special Tikki, Rumali Roti with Kadhai Paneer/ Chicken and Garlic Soaked special Kababs.
40.9.2 Bangaluru Restaurant Week Festival
Bangaluru Restaurant Week Festival (BRWF) is an exciting food festival which is observed in the city of Bangaluru, Karnataka. Some chefs from different restaurants as well as food lovers readily participate in this recurring food festival. The year 2010 was a landmark for this event, Bengaluru witnessed the celebration of one of the grandest food festivals in the country. Various types of contests, competitions, and quizzes were held during this exciting food festival of Bengaluru. Expert chefs had been invited as judges for the numerable contests. BRWF is becoming an interest for local, national and international tourists.
40.9.3 Kashmir Food Festival
J&K Tourism has initiated to promote valley in a very innovative way, by using Kashmiri food fest. A mini Shikara full of flowers welcomes diners and guests at the lobby. The fest is headed by two in-house chefs who are doing their best to carve out the best dishes possible. A few dishes have also been squeezed consciously to meet the expectations of Kashmiri food lovers. So, the mutton rogan josh is not a light runny gravy but a thick one, best combined with a naan, or maybe the Bakharkhani.
Figure 6: A platter presentation from Kashmiri Food Festival (Source: presentedbyp.com) Delicious, spice foodstuffs mainly non-vegetarian items were amongst the main food attractions of the Kashmir Food Festival which is celebrated in January. It continues for
ten days. The various culinary delights of Kashmir are introduced in this food festival of this northern Indian state. Kashmiri dishes are enriched with stunningly delicious dishes like Aloo Choora, Surkh Angeri Paneer Tikki, Nadru ka Choorma, Akhrot ki Chutney, Badam Subz Shorba, Bhodarwa Rajma, Chyoke Wangan, Mutter Mushroom, Madhur Pulao or sweet rice, Sada Chawal, Kashmiri Lavasa Bread, Paneer Kaliyan and many others. Spices like saffron, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon are employed to add to the tastes of the various food items.
40.10 Module References
Ab-Karim, S. (2006). Culinary tourism as a destination attraction: An empirical examination of the destination's food image and information sources (Doctoral dissertation, Oklahoma State University).
Boyne, S., Hall, D., & Williams, F. (2003). Policy, support and promotion for food-related tourism initiatives: A marketing approach to regional development.
Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 14(3-4), 131-154.
Du Rand, G. E., & Heath, E. (2006). Towards a framework for food tourism as an element of destination marketing. Current Issues in Tourism, 9 (3), 206-234.
Getz, D., & Brown, G. (2006). Critical success factors for wine tourism regions: a demand analysis. Tourism Management, 27(1), 146-158.
Grihault, N., & Koya, S. (2004). Gastronomic tourism-Europe. Travel & Tourism Analyst, (November), 1-49.
Hall, C. H., & Sharples, L., (2003). The consumption of experiences or the experience of consumption? An introduction to the tourism of taste. In C.M. Hall, eds. Food Tourism around the World. Development, management and markets.
Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann,1-24.
Hall, C. M. (2013). Wine, food, and tourism marketing. New York: Routledge.
Hall, C. M., & Mitchell, R. (2000). We are What We Eat. Tourism Culture &
Communication, 2(1), 29-37.
Henderson, J. C. (2004). Food as a tourism resource: A view from Singapore. Tourism Recreation Research, 29(3), 69-74.
Hinrichs, C. C. (2003). The practice and politics of food system localization.
Journal of Rural Studies, 19(1), 33-45.
Hjalager, A. M., & Richards, G. (2002). 13 Still undigested: research issues in tourism and gastronomy. Tourism and gastronomy, 224.
Mason, R. & O’Mahony, B., (2007). On the trail of food and wine: The tourist search for meaningful experience. Annals of Leisure Research, 10 (3-4), 498-517.
Murray, I., 2011. Culinary Tourism: Segment or Figment. Thesis (PhD).
University of Guelph.
Robinson, M., & Boniface, P. (1999). Tourism and cultural conflicts. CAB International.
Smith, S., 2007. Analysis of tourists attending a culinary event: Motivations, satisfaction, and behavioural outcomes. Thesis (PhD). The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Telfer, D. J., & Hashimoto, A. (2003). Food tourism in the Niagara region: The development of a nouvelle cuisine. Food Tourism Around the World:
Development, Management, and Markets, 158-177.
