Chapter 4: Conceptualizing festival-based culinary tourism in rural destinations

Abstract

Destination branding is a powerful marketing resource used to differentiate one location from another ( Cai, 2002 ; Kotler and Gertner, 2002 ). Successful destination branding must incorporate various elements of a destination to portray a unique and positive image to attract tourists. Festivals staged in rural areas can utilize a destination branding strategy to differentiate their location. Festivals often include food and food related elements as unique regional celebration of culture. Cultural significance combined with food at festivals and implemented as a branding strategy will form a powerful emotional connection with a destination. Experiencing food and food related elements at a destination can be defined as culinary tourism. It is known that the sharing of food also elicits an emotional response and a sense of an identity with place ( Visser, 1991 ; Bessiere, 2001 ; Long, 2004 ). The use of food and food related elements in destination branding materials will not only evoke a positive response to a destination, but also invoke an emotional identification with the food image affirming a positive response to a destination.