Gastronomic tourism

CONCLUSION

This paper has focused on gastronomic tourism and its impacts on destination management and marketing, and more specifically on the travel market. The purpose of the paper was to understand, which role the local food and beverages play on a holiday.
Results of the surveys, made by special organizations, shed light on the travel profile of young travelers, regarding the number of holidays per year, the used information source to collect information about the holiday destination, the accommodation and the average amount a young tourist spent on the last holiday. Most tourists went on two to three holiday during the last year and the internet is the most used information source by all age groups.
However, a high percentage of people between 31 until 35 years use travel agencies ...

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION 3
1. THE KEY FEATURES OF GASTRONOMIC TOURISM 5
1.1. The concept of gastronomic tourism 5
1.2. The modern trends of gastronomic tourism 7
1.3. Gastronomic tourism and international organizations 10
2. GASTRONOMIC TOURISM AND ITS CONNECTION TO DESTINATION MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING 12
2.1. Gastronomic tourism in promotion of a destination 12
2.2. Slow Food movement and its connection to gastronomic tourism 15
2.3. The project of a gastronomic tour to Italy 16
CONCLUSION 21
REFERENCES 23

INTRODUCTION

Since the beginning of the 21st century, various changes have occurred with respect to travel motivations. The behavior of tourists have changed, and these days the holidays are getting shorter, but more frequent. More and more new directions and trends are developed to meet this new tourism preference.
Food and drink have always played an important role in the tourism product, although they were generally regarded as a supply to the tourists through hotels, restaurants and resorts. In recent years, the value of food and beverages has changed [3].
More recently, food and drink in connection with tourism have been recognized as an important research and study of the subject. Furthermore, they are now considered as part of the character and culture purposes. Tourists can expe rience it in different ways, such as visiting local restaurants, gourmet fairs or festivals, markets, cooking classes, gourmet cuisine, food trips and beverage manufactures, and many others [8]. However, this area of research is still developing, and Hall and Sharples (2003) emphasize the lack of food in the area of tourism research. This makes it difficult to make food tourists demographic indicators. In addition, he believes that the information that there is trivial. Nevertheless, there are individual demographic profiles of independent studies [6].
Gastronomic tourism is an important feature of the local tourism advertisement for the appointment. It promises an element of regional agricultural and economic growth and a differentiated component to competing destination market. Food and drinks are not just to get more attention from researchers and directions, but the media are also increasingly focused on this topic. Specific magazines such as Gourmet Traveler, Food and Travel, kitchen, radio shows, online platforms and a variety of food and lifestyle channels on TV to focus exclusively on food and beverages. We can say that it reflects the shifting lifestyles and the importance of certain products and services are as a status symbol.
In this context, the aim of this paper is to give an understanding of how to make gastronomic tourism more attractive and popular people, and as a way of marketing and gastronomic tourism will need to change in order to attract visitors.
For writing this paper the works of Russian and abroad scientists, thesises, websites were used. 

A guidebook, tour guide or concierge can be useful but are likely to get more so as they become more food-focused, particularly the last in that list. One of the first off the starter’s block wasThompson Hotels which introduced the Food Truck Concierge to its New York properties to point guests towards the best of the city’s 3,000 plus food trucks. Now in San Antonio, Texas – touted as the next Austin with its stellar foodie credentials – The Emma has appointed a dedicated gastronomic concierge. Hugh Daschbach’s insider knowledge and gastronomic tips will steer guests towards the city’s gourmet hot spots.1.3. Gastronomic tourism and international organizationsThe authoritative international organizations give a place of honor to gastronomic tourism. Thus, UNESCO has made Mexican cuisine,Mediterranean diet and French cuisine in the list of world intangible cultural heritage. Also, this organization holds a competition determining the best gastronomic city. This honorary title awarded to Colombian Popayan, the Chinese Chengdu (the capital of the famous Sichuan cuisine) and the Swedish Ostersund. Soon a similar promise to assign a title and the province of Hatay (Turkey), a kitchen that is a bizarre mix of Turkish, Arabic and French culinary traditions. Due to the fact that culinary tourism began to develop actively and widely in many countries, many travel agencies specializing in international gastronomic tourism were organized. For example, in U.S. - «Gourmet on Tour» and «The International kitchen», Australia - «Gourmet Getaways».Close travel guide TripAdvisor has called the world's top leaders among the popular tourist destinations on the basis of the most delicious cuisine. Winners are not determined by the members of the jury, but by the tourists all over the world. The survey revealed the most attractive gastronomic destinations in Europe, USA, Asia, Australia and Oceania, Canada, India, Central and South America.Among the European cities with the most exquisite cuisine the winner was the Italian Florence. In the opinion of travelers, all the food here is very fresh and of high quality, and the kitchen is replete with cafes and restaurants with fresh meat, cheeses, olive oil, beans and vegetables. All this is complemented by an abundance of fine Tuscan wines.Florence was not the only Italian city, which is in the top-rated culinary capitals of the world. The top ten also included the honorary Rome, Sorrento, Siena and Bologna, respectively ranked 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th lines of the list. This makes Italy one of the most sought after holiday destinations for gourmets. [17]Today gastronomic tours in Italy have a diverse program. So, people can take a wine tour to Italy and visit Tuscany and Spoleto. And they can choose from gastronomic tours to Italy, including a trip to a farm producing olive oil and tender ham, as well as factories, creating elite varieties of chocolate.Because the cuisine is very different in different parts of the country, it will be interesting to make a culinary journey through Italy from north to south, appreciating the local food restaurants. In the north, the program of gastronomic tours in Italy includes tasting of traditional pizza and spaghetti with sauce, and on the south you can enjoy delicate seafood and delicious vegetable dishes.No less popular are the trips to the passage of the short-term cooking classes led by internationally recognized chefs. They will tell the secrets of unusually delicious Italian dishes and will learn to cook many traditional delicacies. [17]Depending on the wishes and tourists budget tour operators pick up the hotel of any star in any of the 20 regions of the country, in any city or small town hotels in Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples, Rimini, Riccione, Lido di Jesolo Sanremo Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio, Taormina, Sorrento, etc. are chosen great hotels for incentive programs in Italy. And they are able to offer a tourist class hotels at low prices [20] for bus groups.Also, depending on the tour operator offers group tours for at least 20 people, tour for or one person or more will be much more expensive.2. GASTRONOMIC TOURISM AND ITS CONNECTION TO DESTINATION MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING 2.1. Gastronomic tourism in promotion the destinationThe role of food and drinks in promoting the destination has not been well studied until nowadays [21]. Handschuh has argued that one of the main problems related to gastronomic tourism marketing is that the regional cuisines are not represented enough in promotional materials and communications that are used for tourism marketing. That is confirmed by the fact that the regional food increases the opportunities for sustainable tourism and strengthens the regional economy and supports environmentally friendly infrastructure, and is part of the original destination [21]. That is why it is an important responsibility for the direction, to explore the role of regional foods and beverages and use their potential for effective marketing in the region.This aspect leads to the next important task, showing the promotion of gastronomic tourism in the right direction in order to attract as many potential visitors as possible. If the recipient decides how to display and promote gastronomic tourism, it can be widely used as a branding tool for the destination [4]. For countries that do not have a well-developed food tourism strategy, it is important to learn from the success stories from other countries, and the use of benchmarking in order to compete on the world market [8]. Hall and Mitchell discussed the theme uses of food and drinks, to put them in a unique marketing position to attract tourists. Through food tourism destination can define their cultural identity and to ensure their positioning strategy. Therefore, the direction of escape can be replaced ahead of the competition. Uniqueness can be represented by characters or the atmosphere, which is unique for this purpose. In addition, Deneault said that it is an advantage for the promotion of various products available in the region than the concentration in one kitchen. Hashimoto and Telfer reported that more research is needed and efforts should be made to attract more domestic tourists in the gastronomic attractions. In addition, the need to develop strategies for promotion brand loyalty by local visitors and thereby getting repeat customers. As Dodd [5] confirmed the collection of market information, as well as information on consumer behavior and the establishment of regular customers is the most important task of the wine and food outlets. Branding areas are able to develop an understanding of the destination, to create a positive image and increase sales of the destination in the consumer market. In order to brand a product successfully it is necessary to increase brand awareness and develop a strong brand recognition in the minds of consumers, which includes the brand name, logo, symbols, slogans and packaging [14]. In summary, it can be said that food branding can be used to illustrate the pattern of cultural experience, cultural identity, status and communication [7].In Hall et al. stated that "regionalism is clearly of great importance, especially in terms of promoting the attributes of food, wine and tourism products of the place." This is very common in the wine industry, where the notation indicates, of which particular wine comes from the region, such as burgundy. In addition, having the name of the destination included in the product name, the addressee himself is transformed into a brand and has a value for the brand and destination [19]. Food and wine tourism industry depends on the branding and promotion at the regional, national and international level in order to have an advantage in the food and beverage tourism market [21].Wineries, which are displayed on the Internet, are increasing. Therefore, wineries need even more to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Although the production and quality of the wine will be the main reason why tourists visit the winery, additional services and products are to help differentiating them from the competition. Cooking schools, restaurants, events, and sleeps in the winery can be used as a marketing tool to attract more tourists to visit the winery. In a recent study [16], it was stated that the organization of destination management in South Africa saw the specialty restaurants and eating places on the main key food tourism components (62%), followed by regional / local food products (59%), special food / food routes (45%), and culinary festivals (31%). Respondents were also questioned about the means of communication that they used for the marketing of food products. With 80% of brochures and leaflets are the most widely used marketing tool on food tourism, and then the advertising initiatives / radio / TV / media / printing materials / advertising / advertising 63%. 60% see the food marketing as a key element of destination image and branding identity, while 57% include food marketing in trade and consumer exhibitions, and 53% use web promotion as a means of communication for the marketing of food products. These results indicate that the destination management organization in South Africa still rely on the old traditional marketing tools in order to provide tourists with information on the food tourism. These pamphlets, brochures or advertising media ads, unfortunately, mainly consist of restaurant information, rather than the cultural heritage or traditional gastronomic experiences on offer in the region [11]. In a study by Du Rand et al. the destination management organization indicated that the limited amount of funding is a major problem in the marketing of gastronomic tourism. Since funding is low, no money will be invested in the promotion of tourism of food, as it is regarded as a product that tourists will buy anyway in the form of food and beverages. This situation can only be changed when the managers change their perception of gastronomic tourism.2.2. Slow Food movement and its connection to gastronomic tourism The Slow Food action came about in 1989 in Piedmont, Italy as a reaction to the global trend of fast food. The movement should remind people of their gastronomic traditions, being aware of where the products come from, taking their time to actually taste and enjoy their food and be more responsible of eating in a healthy way [23]. The organization counts today 100,000 members in over 150 countries and is an active non-profit organization. The Slow Food movement holds the bi-annual event “Salone del Gusto” in Lingotto, Turin. It was also behind the establishment of the University of Gastronomic Science (UNISEG) which opened in 2004 in Italy [22]. Every Slow Food member pays €5 per year for the institution of biodiversity which fights globally against extinction of the variety of crop plants and livestock. The organisation’s goal is to bring a new understanding for food quality into the society. Growing, production, taste, smell, and the look are as important as the regionality of the product. The quality of the food is the central concern, whereas the eco-label is not enough proof for the slow food movement [4]. The Slow Food organisation is no gastronomic provider, it wants to show and make aware of the togetherness of indulgence and responsibility. One of the main acts is to find allies and to fight for the better food quality. Slow Food stands for agriculture which produces quality and how important it is to use the sources in a responsible way so they survive for the next generations. Members of the slow food activity produce traditional products and create at the same time new traditions. Slow Food restaurant offers fresh products with authentic taste and slow food cooks oppose to use of ready meals or cans. Basically, slow food stands for guests and customers, who appreciate, enjoy and share this philosophy [14]. The organization is most popular in Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, and United States of America. The Slow Food movement has the most influence in the health systems in the United States of America. In USA a person dies every five minutes due to a poor diet. 150 billion dollars per year is spend for obesity in the American health system. This accounts for ten per cent of all the cost of the American health system. Researchers warn that this figure will double in the next ten years. This is the reason why the Slow Food movement in the United States educates the population about the importance of healthy and regional food and what and how they can change their lifestyle to live healthier [6]. In Europe the slow food movement is more connected to the lifestyle of many Europeans. Most representatives of the slow food movement in Italy and France work against EU regulation which would endanger the local and regional products. Furthermore, the Slow Food movement also participates in attractions like international markets and fairs to promote regional products at a global market but also to promote the traditional food in the own country. This, in return, increases tourist arrivals to the region because of specific products they became aware of [6]. Everyone can join the slow food organization, as a member one takes part in regional events and actions and helps to enhance the food system in the local society. Supporter of their projects help and are involved in the sustainable food creation or just as being a responsible consumer who pays attention towards quality and enjoys the food of the region.2.3. The project of a gastronomic tour to ItalyThe program of gastronomic tour "Tour for the true gourmets" is as follows:Attendance cities: Milan, Verona, Genoa, Parma, Pisa, Florence, Rome.The tour is targeted at a group of tourists from 10 people.Season - from May to September.Departures: every Thursday.8 days / 7 nights.Tour price per person: 3500 €.The price includes:air flights (Moscow-Milan / Rome- Moscow);bus throughout the tour;hotel accommodation (double rooms);insurance;services-speaking guide;sightseeing tours in the cities;Not included:visa processing;optional excursions (palaces, castles);meals in restaurants;gratuities and personal expenses;other options that are not spelled out in the programe.Tour programDay 1.Thursday. Departure from Moscow flight PS311 at 10:40, a / p Domodedovo. Arrival in Milan at 12:30 a / p Malpensa. Transfer to the hotel Hotel Romana Residence 4 ****15:00 - dinner at Bice restaurant. Introduction to Italian cuisine. Specialties of the house are cutlets of veal, boiled crawfish with spicy herbs and foie gras.17:00 - tour of the museum in the castle Sforzesco. Here are a collection of paintings and sculptures, as well as the real museum pieces - antique furniture and tapestries.20:00 - dinner in a restaurant of national cuisine Osteria dell'Operetta. Here visitors are offered to try delicious beef with mustard and juicy tuna with pistachios, and apple pie and tiramisu for dessert.Day 2.Friday. Breakfast "buffet" in the hotel (included).10:00 - tour of the city. Visit the Duomo, the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, Brera Art Gallery (Pinacoteca di Brera), Gallery of Modern Art (Galleria d'Arte Moderna).15:00 - Lunch at the restaurant Blue Note. The choice of visitors: roast chicken, a variety of tartlets, pasta and excellent dessert, as well as a good selection of wines.17:00 - Transfer to Verona. Check in at the hotel Fiera 4 ****20:30 - Dinner at the restaurant Antica Torretta. The main dishes are Alaskan crab steaming and garnished with a puree of eggplant and sauce "Bristol", sliced ​​red tuna with fried clams and Spinacine sauce, baked feta with tomatoes "Pendulum", selected Lessinia and other cheeses. Tourist can also conduct a tasting of oysters. The confectionery: chocolate tiramisu, dark chocolate cake with heart white rum chocolate, Semifreddo persimmon with chestnuts, cooked with honey and rum baba with custard sauce and pistachios.Day 3.