Gastronomy examines, researches, and applies the food and beverage culture of a society in the historical process. Gastronomy is also a field of science that includes elements of science and art. The aim of gastronomy education is to train experts with the knowledge and equipment needed by the sector. Creativity is an important parameter in the field of gastronomy. The concept of creativity can be defined in different ways. In a simple way, creativity is used in the meaning of creating, revealing, and discovering the unknown. The Torrance scale is one of the most widely used methods for measuring creativity. In this chapter, the effect of gender, the type of school graduated at high school, and pre-school education on creativity was examined for undergraduate students studying gastronomy at the universities. The importance of gastronomy in business tourism is increasing. The development of creative ideas and thoughts by gastronomy employees can positively affect gastronomy tourism.
TopIntroduction
With very general definition, tourism is a social, cultural and economic activity that requires people to move to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or commercial/professional purposes. These people are called visitors or tourists. While defining the tourism market, it can be evaluated in two categories: business tourism market and private tourism market by taking into consideration the travel objectives, goals and financing methods.
As in the other sector, increasing competitiveness forces businesses to raise the value chain and forces them to develop new value sources (Pine and Gilmore, 1999). Today, as in all areas, there is differentiation and change in the tourism sector. By developing new methods, companies, cities, regions or countries are trying to revive tourism. In this context, as in other sectors, creativity new ideas or innovation are becoming important for tourism sector.
In recent years, the concept of 'innovation' has started to be widely discussed around the world. Innovation and creativity are today a key factor in the economic competitiveness of tourism destinations in countries, cities or firms. In order to develop new, creative ideas and products, creative individuals should be trained. Creativity gains great importance in the evolution of new products. In the process of developing a product, especially at the outset, a number of innovative solutions need to be developed, such as the specific process, organization, use of material resources.
The concept of “creative city” or “creative region is also discussed in the literature as an economic resource (Porter, 1998). Richards and Wilson (2006) discussed the reasons why creativity is more popular than traditional cultural approaches to development, and emphasizes the relationship between creativity, change and innovation.
This new area of hypothesis offers opportunities for various strategies for creative tourism development (Richards and Wilson, 2007):
- •
Tourism based on creative media consumption;
- •
Tourism based on the creative production of consumers;
- •
Traditional forms of tourism consumed or produced more creatively.
Creative activities may consist of apparently ordinary learning to improve local production rather than gaining more flashy skills. Alternatively, creativity in rural tourism can include community performances based on, for example, hybrid nature - eco-experience or adventure, and suggest new ways of understanding creativity. Tourists can be offered the opportunity to develop their creative potential by actively participating in rural areas. Rural tourism is gaining importance with different vinovative approaches. Any self-respecting country house hotel now offers additional creativity: it learns to cook country-style cooking, fishing, shooting, riding, and using various forms of environmental art (Richards and Wilson, 2007).
In urban areas, on the other hand, new museums and big art galleries, attractive casinos, large and different cinemas, neighborhood art galleries, experimental performance areas, spesific theaters, festival/event programming, small jazz and dance clubs and independently operated cafes are becoming more interesting.
In general, tourism makes a major contribution to the economic development of countries and the improvement of tourism products. Competitiveness in the tourism sector is constantly increasing. In order to achieve success in this competitive tourism market in the world and attract as many tourists as possible, it is very important that local authorities make a difference in tourism. The competencies responsible for the management of the country or the city may require a lot of innovation in different areas.
One of the most important types of tourism is business tourism. Business tourism is one of the issues that need to be studied in the tourism sector. In the business tourism market, it is very important that the country or city can create and present attractive products. It is noteworthy to meet customers' perceptions and high demands, and to offer products that are unique and tailored to their meeting characteristics.