The Concept of Gastronomy Tourism - Essay Example

?Gastronomy and tourism Gastronomy is the study of food, style of cooking and general tastes of the various foods. Tourism on the other hand is visiting foreign land for leisure or business. Therefore, gastronomy tourism is the travelling to other lands specifically to sample their food and understand their culture. Gastronomy tourism is gaining a lot of popularity in the world today. People have been travelling to different countries to get to know their culture and food more. The trend has been changing and more people are interested in culture and food of various people in different parts of the world. Gastronomy tourism has become of interest to many people, who would do whatever it takes to travel to the specific areas of interest to sample food and understand their culture of those places, contributing to the development of those regions and contributing to making them gastronomy tourism destinations. Gastronomy Tourism Gastronomy tourism is travelling to foreign countries to sample food and drinks while understanding their culture. The International Culinary Tourism Association terms culinary tourism as “the pursuit of unique and memorable eating and drinking experiences”. Many people are spending a lot of money just to travel to sample food in different gastronomy destinations. This has been limiting to some people and businessmen have taken advantage of the market demand. They have gone ahead to establish local joints where people can take foreign food and drinks. This has increased gastronomy tourism as people do not have to travel to the regions they have always wished to travel to and sample their food and drinks (Kiveal and Crotts, 2013). However, this act of gastronomy has faced some criticisms from some food experts from the various regions. They point out that food made in another place other than the original place may not meet the preparation, taste and cooking requirements. Some food requires preparing in a certain specific way, which may not be available in the foreign countries where they are prepared. They also state that having food from a certain place or country prepared in a foreign land may not have developmental impact on the locals where that food or drink is from. Despite the criticism, there are restaurants and hotels that have specialized in preparing the various cuisines from different places in the world. There are some hotels that can prepare just about any cuisine. Some people have really appreciated this because it offers them a chance to enjoy foods and drinks from foreign lands without having to travel there. Gastronomy Tourism Trends Gastronomy is becoming popular among people in different parts of the world. The trend has been on the increase in the last decade as people across the world get interest in the culture of certain jurisdictions and territories. According to the International culinary association, the number of people who are involved in culinary activities in the United States a lone was more than twenty million people in the last three years. The number is higher compared to the data three years back. Tourism across the world has been on the increase. According to the world tourism organization, the number of tourist arrivals in the world increased by four percent to approximately one billion tourists in 2012 alone. The revenues generated by tourists amounted to about one trillion dollars. Of that money, about thirty six percent was spent on food. The international culinary association found out that most tourist spend about a third of their expenditure on food. The increase in the number of tourists across the world has a high impact on gastronomy tourism. The more the number, the more food they will need in the foreign land. They have no option but to take the food available in the countries they have visited playing a role in gastronomy tourism. The number of tourists visiting different places in the world is expected to increase at an average of four to five percent per year as the World Tourist Association points out. As such, gastronomy tourism is expected to continue becoming popular. No wonder gastronomy tourism has become the fastest growing in the hospitality and tourism industry (World Tourism Organization, 2013). Factors Influencing Gastronomy Tourism Interest and Curiosity People in the world today are very curious about other places in the world. They wonder how the culture of that place is and how their foods are. There are some foods that create a lot of interest whether they are controversial or not. The taking of shark and whale fins in the Far East has created a lot of controversy in the world today. Some countries are of the view that this is not good as its puts those animals in danger of extinction. Conversely, other people would be wondering just how such fish fins tastes. The documentary by Cable Communication Network (CNN) on shark fins in 2012 definitely aroused a lot of interest to some people, despite the controversy (Whiteman, 2011). This interest has made them to purpose to travel to the regions they have learned about just to sample what they saw. They can go extra lengths to save money to visit these places. Once they have enough money and travel, the experience they get is forever enchanted in their minds. One thing that makes such trips memorable is the culture and food of the people. It is definitely different from what the tourist takes back home. They are eager to share such information with their friends and relatives creating even more curiosity. The referral makes the people informed to have greater interest to go to those specific places. This trend may continue and within a few years, as many as hundred people could visit a place just because of one person who shared the information. Globalization The world has been changing dynamically in the last few decades. Technology has improved very much and sharing of information has become much easier. Internet, which is probably the greatest thing to have been invented in the twentieth century, is the medium making globalization even easier. A person in one part of the world can go to any search engine and search for information about a specific place in the world. They can get a wide range of information about that place including the culture, the nature of the people, their main activities and the kind of food they take. Some of the most intriguing factors that can be obtained through the internet are the foods people in certain places take as well as their customs and cultural practices. There are some foods that are almost unimaginable to take. For example, people in Korea and Japan take live octopuses immediately after they have been fished. This is beyond human imagination to some people in some countries. Basing on the information they have that octopus can harm someone using their tentacles, they get wild imaginations on how eating octopus is even possible (Deutsch and Murakhver, 2012). These people are likely to watch videos on the internet over and over again trying to determine whether it is really true or it is just a fiction, which is quite common with movies today. This is likely to create a lot of interest such that they would like to experiment. The next thing happening is the person who had seen that is on the way to Korea or Japan just to see live and try it out. By doing so, that would have contributed to gastronomy tourism. There are many people at any given time reading about foreign places across the world. The number could total to thousands of people every day. Of those people, those who can afford to visit the places they have learned about would account for more than ten percent. That is a large percentage and would definitely have a high impact on culinary tourism. Business International business has been on the increase especially in the last two decades. Companies and people in the different countries are constantly looking for business in other countries. For example, a company producing computers or mobile phones would find it necessary to go to other countries to look for business for their products. The company would send a marketing team to go study the market, look for local partners and establish the regulations and terms and conditions needed to operate in that particular jurisdiction. The team sent would have to spend some time in the local market they are researching on. This would mean that they would have to stay in hotels and have to take the local food. Basing on the fact that they may not know that particular country well, they would have to sample different foods and drinks available in that country. Most tourists like to try out new foods and drinks rather than take what they are used to back home. Sampling the different foods promotes gastronomy tourism as of that time. In addition, the individuals within the team are likely to share with their relatives and friends their experience in the foreign country. Some may even opt to go back to those countries with the families for vacation if they liked the place. That would promote the tourism of that country as well as food tourism. Gastronomy Tourism and Innovation Gastronomy tourism has been credited for innovation in the food and drink industry. Various countries across the world are competing to be the best gastronomy destinations. For that to happen and be successful, the destinations have to come up with unique foods and rinks, to give culinary tourists some reasons to visit the places. Gastronomy tourists’ providers are going to the extent of looking for new foods using the same foods. They may try to come up with a mixture of traditional and modern foods, unique recipes and or try well known recipes on other foods. Other experts in some parts of the world have tried mixing up the different cuisines from different parts of the world. In this case, they come up with a dish of food or a glass of drink that has inspiration from various gastronomy destinations. It could be inspired by Thailand, Korean, Turkish, Indian, Africa and Italian cuisines for example (Gairola, 2009). Gastronomy tourism experts are always on the look out and experiment with a wide range of animals and plants that have never been taken. They are also investing in scientific research to know what can be taken and what cannot be taken. Scientific procedures can also be used to remove harmful ingredients in some of the foods. Molecular Gastronomy which is the scientific study of food from different aspects has played a critical role in innovation in cuisines (Vega and Ubbink, 2008). Some experts feel that the world is taking a scientific turn and gastronomy should not be left behind. This has made it possible to take practically anything as long as it has been proven scientifically that it can be fed on by humans. Examples of Gastronomy Tourism Destinations South and Far East Asia This is probably the most intriguing food destinations in the world. The region is in its won category when it comes to food tourism. People in the region are known to take all the weird animals and creatures. Korean people can take a live baby octopus straight from the ocean, Japanese can take raw squid while the Chinese and Thai people have been claimed to take frogs, worms, snakes, dogs and ants. Taking these organisms is beyond imagination by some people. They travel all year round to go to this region just to see and probably experiment if they have the guts to. This weird yet unique culinary tourism is making the South and Far East region among the most preferred gastronomy destinations in the world. The growth in tourist numbers year after year in the region is just incredible. France France is one of the countries that are well known for culinary tourism. In French Cities, there are pastry shops, wine shops, bakeries and boulangeries in almost every corner. These outlets have a major impact on general tourism industry. Most tourists hang out in these outlets to enjoy the various French Cuisines. Investors have realized that this is booming market and started companies that specialize in culinary tourism in France. The International Kitchen is one of the companies that have specialized in culinary tourism. This company organizes coking classes for the various French recipes, organizes trips and visits to important wine producing plants and cheese production farms and many more. Tourists are taken too many unique destinations across France for memorable holidays (Smith and Richards, 2013). United States This country is known as the’ foodiest’ country in the world. The country is a mixture of many ethnic nationalities from across the world. American History indicates that the country has almost all European descents, Jews, African, Indians and Asians. This has created a unique mixture of people in the country coming up with many yet unique dishes. There are some regions within the United States that have become key culinary tourism centers for instance Tompkins County. This county has been named probably the foodiest county within United States attracting cuisine lovers from all over the world. The country has been marketing itself a lot as a culinary destination going to the extent of establishing websites and blogs for all the world people to know more about it. There are other counties that are also establishing themselves as culinary destinations in the United States (Smith and Richards, 2013). Impacts of Gastronomy Tourism Foreign Exchange Earnings The continued popularity of gastronomy is increasing the foreign exchange earnings. This sector of hospitality and tourism is making people from world over to travel to sample foods and drinks. Tourists usually come with their respective countries’ currencies which they have to convert earning the gastronomy destination foreign exchange. The foreign exchange from gastronomy in some countries is higher than any other sector in tourism for example Malaysia. This country has a lot of creativity in cuisines making it one of the favored destinations. The country is making substantial money from foreign exchange. United States, Australia, Japan, Korea, Europe and some Asian countries are also making a lot of foreign exchange from gastronomy. This is attributed by the fact that tour operators offer unique gastronomy packages to their tourist clients (Rainal, Radzi and Chik, 2012). Development Gastronomy has led to economic development in some regions in the world. There are some remote and rural regions that have rick culture and scrumptious meals as some people put it. Determined tourists make their way to these regions no matter how remote they are. The money the local community earns improves the livelihood of the people in several ways. One, people involved with gastronomy in those places make money which can sustain their families and contribute to the development of the society. Secondly, the authorities in such remote regions try to make the place even better for the future cuisine tourists. This could be through infrastructure improvement such as roads. The government of such a country may go the extra length of developing amenities in these places to attract local investors who provide more facilities like better hotels, schools, roads and telecommunications network. That leads to the greater good of the specific region and the country at large. There are quite a number of places in Europe, Africa and South East Asia that have developed that way due to gastronomy tourism (Gillespie and Cousins, 2012). Increased Tourism Awareness Gastronomy is so unique that it can make a place or a region very popular within no time. Tourists who sample the food and drinks of a certain region usually share their experience with no only their relatives but also other people in the world. Nowadays, it is possible to use internet channels like YouTube talk about own experience. Such channels are accessed by millions of people every day and they are likely to come across such videos. Those that access such material maybe interested to go and visit the place they heard of leading to awareness of such places. More tourists would keep visiting the place time to time pushing awareness and promotion of that place through the roof (Sims, 2009). Challenges of Gastronomy Tourism Economic Slowdown This is probably the greatest challenge and risk to the gastronomy tourism. There has economic recession in most countries across the world. The economies are not in good position and in such cases, most people panic as they do not know what to expect. They prefer to spend money on only the necessary things and save whatever remains rather than spend on vacation and visiting places. As such, there is few or no visitor to cuisine tourism destinations. Earnings from the sector dwindle and the benefits that come with it cannot be available. The sector in the gastronomy tourism destination may be threatened in addition to local people suffering (Kapiki, 2012). Changing consumer needs and expectations The innovation and changes that have been witnessed in the gastronomy sector of tourism has left many food lovers and tourists with high expectations. They expect that every now and then new cuisines will be availed to them. They do not want to take the same food or drink for a long time and are constantly looking for the new cuisines that are introduced. While this is good for the sector by creating competitiveness, it also threatens some of the foods and drinks from some regions. There are some cuisines that cannot be changed come what may and the changing tastes and preferences for the tourists may affect such regions. Only new tourists would be expected in such places and the earnings would be little affecting sustainability of the people and development. It would be important for the various communities and regions t diversifies their cuisine and understands the food tourism trends to remain afloat in this sector. Terrorism Terrorism is another major threat to food tourism. In increase in terrorism activities across the world has made most people to live in fear. Terrorists have been changing their strategies and patterns recently. They are becoming very sophisticated and unpredictable. They can attack anywhere anytime including highly secured buildings and installations. The number of deaths from terrorism related attacks hit an all time high this year, 2013. This fact also discouraged cuisine lovers from travelling to the various parts of the world. They usually think that they may come across terrorists. Rather than putting their lives in danger, they prefer not to go to vacations. This leads to low travel bookings, leads to fewer tourists in the gastronomy destinations, leaving the operators devastated (Enders, Sandler and Parise, 2007). Conclusion Gastronomy tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in the hospitality and tourism industry. Most culinary tourists are attracted by the uniqueness of the various regions across the world. They would do anything just to go and experience the food and drinks in some parts of the world. In other cases, they just go to observe especially in the case of Japan, Korea and South East and Far East region. People in these regions are known o take weird organisms and animals. Food Tourism has invaluable benefits to the respective regions, like foreign exchange, development of infrastructure and improvement in the lives of the people. With the current trends in food tourism, it is certain that gastronomy tourism is the next big thing. Addressing the several challenges that face the tourism sector will go along way in improvement of the industry and foreign earnings. Awareness and marketing of the various food tourism destinations will help the people in the world to appreciate the diversity and uniqueness of the various ethnic groups and places in the world. Governmental institutions and the private sector working together to promote culinary tourism significantly. References Deutsch, J and Murakhver, N. 2012. They Eat That? A Cultural Encyclopedia of Weird and Exotic Food from Around the World. Santa Barbra: ABC-CLIO. Enders, W., Sandler, T and Parise, G. 2007. An Econometric Analysis of the Impact of Terrorism on Tourism. International Review for Social Sciences, 45(4). Gairola, S. 2009. Culinary Innovation: Strategy for Sustainability in Hospitality Industry. North Charlestown: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. Gillespie, C and Cousins, J. 2012. European Gastronomy into the 21st Century. London: Routledge. Kapiki, S. 2012. The Impact of Economic Crisis on Tourism and Hospitality: Results from a Study in Greece.  Central European Review of Economics and Finance, 2(1), 19-30. Kiveala, C and Crotts, J. 2013. Tourism and Gastronomy: Gastronomy's Influence on How Tourists Experience a Destination. 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