Re inventing destinations : cooking up a new Wales - from no where to somewhere?

Abstract

Tourism and leisure activities are increasingly having more impact on the resources they are frequently dependent upon. Current initiatives often aim to ameliorate these impacts, often with mixed success. The need to develop alternative forms of tourism that are more sympathetic to socio-economic, environmental, political and cultural situations are also increasingly important in this respect (Butler 1998). Many national tourist organisations and governments are trying to limit the impact of existing traditional or mass tourism markets by implementing policies that promote alternative sustainable tourism markets and options. This paper evaluates one particular growing niche market, namely the food tourism market - using a case study of Wales. In this respect the concept of food has become an important socio-economic and environmental resource in contemporary European tourism development and consequently in Welsh tourism and associated policy contexts. As such it has been increasingly used as a means of encouraging new economic development, the promotion of regional identity as well as the broader aims of promoting a better quality of life linked to wider sustainable development objectives. Indeed this is a sentiment aspired by Reynolds (1993) who strongly advocated that if culture and tradition is to contribute to sustainable tourism then traditional and ethnic foods must be preserved along with other art forms (Reynolds,1993). This paper will aim to discuss sustainable tourism niche markets and their development and define the role, development and relationship between food, gastronomy and tourism and issues associated with its development. It will also present evidence of primary research which investigates and evaluates the development of food tourism markets and initiatives using Wales as a case. It concludes with a review and evaluation of niche markets in meeting the aims of broader sustainable tourism objectives. In this context it highlights critical problems and issues for implementing effective tourism planning strategies for new sustainable food tourism markets