Discuss about the Food Tourism Reviewed Using the Paradigm Funnel.
Food tourism is the visitation of places and regions with food as the main motivating factor. Food tourism is attached to a cultural perspective and it is greatly influenced by factors such as motivation, culture, authenticity, management, and marketing as well as the orientation of the particular destination.
Food tourism involves the use of food as a reference for a tourist destination but it is not the only factor (Ellis, Park, Kim, & Yeoman, 2018). The research conducted through the use of cognitive maps indicate that tourists visit the destinations that are based on cuisine destinations due to different reasons. The other factors in the destinations, whether natural or unnatural, also influence the visitation activities of tourists. The marketing strategies adopted by the management also influence the decision made by tourists regarding the attraction. Some tourist also visits these destinations for a cultural experience with food as a mere expression of the culture of the society in question.
Food tourism is associated with the following main features; the motivation behind the visitation of the destinations, the orientation of the destination, the culture of the society in question, the management and marketing of the destination and the authenticity of the factors of attraction of the destination (Hall, Sharples, Mitchell, Macionis & Cambourne, 2004). The motivation to visit a food destination is to experience cuisine or just to experience food-related aspects. Cuisine and food festivals could only be avenues for experiencing other cultural factors of a particular society. Marketing and management of these destinations are also among the key factors considered by tourists. Product branding and promotion heavily influence the influx of tourists into particular destinations. The originality of the cuisine and other cultural factors also affect the attractiveness of a destination to tourists. Iconic foods link geography, culture and taste further attracting tourists.
The conclusions made by the researchers are satisfactory given the fact they acknowledge food as a mere expression of culture and not the main attraction to food destinations. The research acknowledges the importance of factors such as proper management and marketing strategies in boosting the attractiveness of a destination. The authenticity of the culture of a people is also a justifiable conclusion about food destinations. The methods adopted of using cognitive maps tackle all the factor that influence tourists’ choice and behavior and the conclusions reached are based on the facts and figures that were generated from the research. This research contributes greatly to the quest to understand food tourism. It enables all the stakeholders to understand tourist behavior and plan accordingly. The managers and marketers of tourist destinations, for instance, understand their clients better and they are able to maximize the revenues generated from these destinations (Lee & Scott, 2015). The research is also useful to the government and private investors in tourism who can benefit immensely by fully understanding the behavior of tourists.
Gastronomy is directly related to the response accorded to destinations by tourists. The cuisine of a place is one among the key factors that determine the attractiveness of a destination. Tourist attitudes and preferences for food are determined are categorized into recreational, existential, diversionary and experimental. A study conducted in Hong Kong revealed that gastronomy qualifies to form a market segment of tourists as it greatly determines the number of people that choose a particular destination out of the available alternatives.
The main emphasis of the study as evidenced by the empirical results obtained from the research is that gastronomy greatly influences tourism. The available foods are part of the tourists’ experience. The unique food experience was observed to be a major attraction for tourists (Kivela, & Crotts, 2005). The food experiences of the tourists were further classified into recreational and educational. The study reveals that some tourists like to experience the local foods that the people of the particular region enjoy on a daily basis. Some other segments of tourists eat in exclusive hotels with unusual offers as part of their holiday experiences. Another segment of tourists learns about the cuisine of a people as part of their culture and they try many dishes in the process. It was observed that gastronomy is an effective marketing tool. Italy and France are some of the countries quoted to have effectively used gastronomy in marketing tourist destinations. Cooking classes are also another aspect of gastronomy marketing that has been effectively applied in places such as Sydney and Provence (Kivela, & Crotts, 2005). The Australian Tourist Commission has also reportedly successfully used gastronomy in attracting tourists to its destinations.
The authors of the article conclude that gastronomy is an important aspect to be considered in marketing tourist destinations. Given that tourism is all about getting new experiences, gastronomy is a justifiable aspect that tourists are interested in experiencing (De Jong, Palladino, Puig, Romeo, Fava, Cafiero, & Sjölander, 2018). Offers in the food offered to the tourist are one of the key discoveries highlighted in the research. The categorization of the reasons that make tourists to choose particular dishes is also very justifiable based on the results obtained from the research that was conducted. Recognizing gastronomy as one of the tourist segment is also appropriate since there are observable characteristics that guide parties such as managers in the tourism sector on aspects such as destination marketing.
The research conducted contributes immensely to the research on gastronomy tourism. Food is an important aspect of tourists’ experiences and it is important to understand how tourists respond to the foods available. The authentic of the food and the pricing policies are some of the important factors that government and private tourism managers should learn and take proper care of (Sormaz, Akmese, Gunes, & Aras, 2016). This research challenges marketers to be creative with the food experiences that they offer in order to expand the tourism industry in the destinations that they are entrusted with.
Foodies are people who very interested in food. They travel in order to consume food that they are interested in, learn how to cook some dishes and to socialize with other people. The core aspects of food tourism for foodies are experiencing the heritage of a particular society, shopping for food, beverages, and other goods, touring food and wine trails as well as indulgence in luxury in the form of spas and the best accommodation facilities (Andersson, Mossberg, & Therkelsen, 2017). Foodies are an independent market segment that can be marketed and catered independently.
Foodies are important to consider in food tourism marketing. This research, conducted in Australia, concludes that destinations should promote food tourism through a demand-based approach. It is worth to note that the experience of food lovers who embark on tourism expeditions is supplemented by factors such as consuming cuisine that is highly authentic, learning a lot about gastronomic traditions on food, beverages, and wine as well as having good social relations while on travel (Getz & Robinson, 2014). This segment of tourists is characterized to love shopping for food, beverages, and other products as well. This segment is also highly involved in luxury activities such as visiting spas and luxury hotels. Bettering food experiences in hotels and destinations will definitely satisfy this segment of tourists more. The visitation of food joints, farms and wineries is also another important aspect of food lovers as tourists.
Food lovers are attracted to food events not necessary to compete but to experience the festival in a unique way (Yeoman & Meethan, 2015). Food plays attract a lot of foodies so long as the emphasis is on the food experience and not on other activities in the event. The appeal of the theme adopted is the key determinant to food tourists who will come to experience the dishes, shop and learn. Marketers should, therefore, emphasize important aspects of food marketing such as authenticity and social relations. Involving activities such as learning about the dishes and visiting destinations such as farm and places that have maintained their food traditions are also great ways of satisfying these customer segments.
The authors concluded that foodies relate highly to food and they prefer a multifaceted holiday. The main experiences that foodies look for are consuming authentic dishes, learning about food and drink traditions of a particular society as well as socializing over the travel period (Stone, Migacz & Wolf, 2018). Marketers should, therefore, broaden the natural, cultural, touring and shopping experiences. This research contributes significantly to the research on gastronomic tourism since it identifies the needs of a particular segment of tourists and recommends ways of satisfying their preferences. The emphasis on factors such as maintaining high levels of authenticity in destinations is also aligned with other conclusions drawn from research in this field. It is important for government and private tourism managers to diversify their products in order to cater for as many tourist segments as possible.
The article discusses the impact of culinary television on societies. The explorations of these programs offer vicarious travel experiences for contemporary audiences. Programs that feature cuisine experiences are an easy way to experience various cultures from different places indirectly. The problem with culinary televisions is the depiction of culture as complex and not easy to understand through consumption.
Culinary television enables people to experience the culture of other societies vicariously. The insights provided by these television programs help people to have a glimpse of foreign cultures (Lynch, 2018). The food explorations also fuse some aspects of travel. The limitation of culinary televisions is that they omit some important aspects of culture and they may paint culture as too complex to understand. The authenticity of cuisines is also among the key factors that determine the reception of food traditions and culture in general by the audiences of culinary television programs. The programs on food communicate particular economic and class which lead to their approval or disapproval by the viewers.
Media representation of cuisines and cultures emphasizes in foreignness and adventure. The central idea behind culinary televisions is to help people to vicariously experience the culture of other societies through the indulgent in food and beverages (Curnutt, 2016). Programs such as Food Safari depict the indigenous lives of a people based on their gastronomy traditions. The uniqueness of a particular society’s traditions is emphasized and it sometimes gives the viewers the impression that a particular culture is very complex. Travelling is also featured, though in minor bits, further giving the audience the impression that the culture depicted is of a different place.
Culinary television offers a simplified way of experiencing the foreign culture by the audience. The exploration centered on gastronomy tourism also incorporates other aspects of tourism such as travel experiences and experiencing other aspects of a particular society’s culture besides food traditions (Cardwell, 2017). The fact that television programs are selected bits of a particular culture omit important aspects thereby giving the audience a partial glimpse of the culture featured. There is also an over-emphasis on food traditions at the expense of factors that influence tourism such as marketing of destinations. The depiction of destinations on television programs is also subject to the bias of the host. The selective depiction of destinations in order to fit into the limited time allocated to the particular program also contributes significantly to the omission of important cultural aspects.
This research contributes significantly to the studies on gastronomy tourism. It acknowledges the importance of authenticity of tourist destinations and the importance of other aspects of tourism such as travel accommodation. This study is however limited to the time constraints leading to the omission of important aspects of culture. The bias of the host is also a limitation to the understanding of a foreign culture. The best way to experience is to visit it and experience all the features of a particular culture. The overemphasis on food ignores all other aspects of tourism.
References
Andersson, T. D., Mossberg, L., & Therkelsen, A. (2017). Food and tourism synergies: perspectives on consumption, production and destination development.
Cardwell, S. (2017). Season to taste: Television cookery programmes, aesthetics, and seasonality. The Journal of Popular Television, 5(1), 11-29.
Curnutt, H. (2016). Cooking on Reality TV: Chef-Participants and Culinary Television. In Food, Media and Contemporary Culture (pp. 144-163). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
De Jong, A., Palladino, M., Puig, R. G., Romeo, G., Fava, N., Cafiero, C., … & Sjölander-Lindqvist, A. (2018). Gastronomy Tourism: An Interdisciplinary Literature Review of Research Areas, Disciplines, and Dynamics. Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism, 3(2), 131-146.
Ellis, A., Park, E., Kim, S., & Yeoman, I. (2018). What is food tourism? Tourism Management, 68, 250-263. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2018.03.025
Getz, D., & Robinson, R. N. (2014). “Foodies” and Their Travel Preferences. Tourism Analysis, 19(6), 659-672. doi:10.3727/108354214×14116690097693
Hall, C. M., Sharples, L., Mitchell, R., Macionis, N., & Cambourne, B. (Eds.). (2004). Food tourism around the world. Routledge.
Karagiannis, D., & Metaxas, T. (2017). Local Authorities’ contribution on Gastronomy Tourism Development: the case of Ontario, Canada.
Kivela, J., & Crotts, J. C. (2005). Gastronomy Tourism. Journal of Culinary Science & Technology, 4(2-3), 39-55. doi:10.1300/j385v04n02_03
Lee, K. H., & Scott, N. (2015). Food tourism reviewed using the paradigm funnel approach. Journal of culinary science & technology, 13(2), 95-115.
Lynch, B. (2017). Australian Culinary Television: Visions of the Real. MEDIANZ: Media Studies Journal of Aotearoa New Zealand, 16(2).
Lynch, B. (2018). Gourmet Travel: Culinary Television Representations of Food-Inspired Touring. Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism, 3(1), 55-65. doi:10.3727/216929718×15193195617818
Robinson, R. N., & Getz, D. (2016). Food enthusiasts and tourism: Exploring food involvement dimensions. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 40(4), 432-455.
Sormaz, U., Akmese, H., Gunes, E., & Aras, S. (2016). Gastronomy in tourism. Procedia Economics and Finance, 39, 725-730.
Stone, M. J., Migacz, S., & Wolf, E. (2018). Beyond the journey: the lasting impact of culinary tourism activities. Current Issues in Tourism, 1-6.
Yeoman, I., & Meethan, K. (Eds.). (2015). The future of food tourism: foodies, experiences, exclusivity, visions and political capital (Vol. 71). Channel View Publications.
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