Introduction - Food Tourism: A Practical Marketing Guide - page 11

at Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada was
inspired to form Farm2Chefs ( www.farm2chefs.com ) , which is based on
Island Chefs Collaborative in Victoria, British Columbia. This not-for-profit
organization has a mission to connect local farmers with local restaurants
to help support local farmers and food security. Farm2Chefs now has over
70 farmers and chefs working together to promote local food and develop
tourism in the region.
Food knowledge is now part of the school curriculum at many junior
schools around the world and this is also helping a new generation to become
more food aware.
The other two major tourist growth categories that are common to many
countries are medical and rural tourism.
Medical tourism
Tourists from many western countries are now travelling abroad for med-
ical treatments and cures and this will increase as the population increases
and ages. This activity will not be discussed in this topic, but readers need
to be aware of this growth as it may be an opportunity in the some regions
of the world where herbal plants could be part of the remedy programmes.
The authors have seen the growth of medical tourism in Hungary and the
opportunities it provides to rural economies.
Rural tourism
In the past it was the case that tourists were initially attracted to specific
icon tourist locations, such as Paris, London or New York. Today's tourist
is a lot more adventurous and wants to seek out rural and wild places; this
has resulted in an increase in ecotourism.
Ecotourism covers a number of activities. The main objective is that
the visitor leaves the area in the same or a better condition than when they
arrived. Often they will become involved in preserving or enhancing the
environment they are visiting (see box).
Is it 'slow food' or 'food tourism'?
In 1986 Carlo Petrini, an Italian, started Slow Food International ( www.slow-
food.com ) . He started the movement because McDonald's, the American
fast-food retailer, wanted to have a store at the Spanish Steps in Rome and it
was evident that fast-food outlets were starting to penetrate the cities and cre-
ating 'food deserts' and, as a result, obesity and diabetes was on the increase.
Carlo's aim was to build awareness of the wealth of traditional food that was
at risk in order to stop the process as it was also destroying the ambience of
key tourist locations.