Analysing the Tour Guides' Perceptions About Gastronomy Tourism in Himachal Pradesh

Introduction

Tourism has always been a key driver of socio-cultural and economic development due to its unique potential for creating infrastructures, generating employment, earning foreign exchange and in overall contributing to World’s GDP (UNWTO, 2017). In this regard, the cultural attractions around the globe have always played a substantial role in the development of tourism industry from very ancient times. Association of tourism and culture can be traced back to the era of Herodotus (of Ancient Greece) who wrote about the “7 Miracles” of the ancient World in 440 BCE. This association got a major boost during the 19^th century as culture was an essential part of education for the wealthy scions. But the synergistic relationship between tourism & culture brought about a paradigm shift in the tourism industry during the 2^nd half of the 20^th century, which led to a much developed segment of the tourism sector, termed as “Cultural Tourism” (OCHTP, 2009). But with the rising interest among the tourists regarding various aspects of culture like history, art, religion, food, costume, festival, etc, it has lead to the development of various segments under cultural tourism like Heritage tourism, Pilgrimage tourism, ethnic tourism, cultural city tourism, gastronomy tourism etc (Csapó, 2012). Gastronomy tourism, alternatively termed as food tourism or culinary tourism refers to the “travelling of tourists to new destinations specifically for enjoying the local delicacies and learning new culture through these food preparations”. Hence a gastronomic tour in total comprises several activities like tasting the local delicacies, tour of vineyards & wineries, attending cookery classes, participating in food /wine events and cooking competitions, etc (Hall & Sharples, 2003; Kivela & Crotts, 2005; Karimi, 2008). Though food tourism was initially a part of cultural tourism, over the last few decades it has created a niche market for itself across the Globe.

As per the Global statistics related to gastronomy tourism, one third of the total spending of the tourists is incurred towards food consumption during the tour. Also it was observed that food is one of the key factors for deciding the travelling destination in the case of 25% of leisure tourists (UNWTO, 2012). Apart from several researches that highlight the role of food as a travel motivator (Enright & Newton, 2004; Sharlene, 2012), it (food) has also been identified as a key factor in shaping the overall experience of the tourists (Timothy & Ron, 2013). Further, now-a-days ‘gastronomic heritages’ of a region are also being used as a tool for marketing, promotion and destination branding (Rand, Heath & Alberts, 2003; Lin, Pearson & Cai, 2011). Moving a step ahead, Cook & Crang (1996) stated that, as regional foods are associated with the geography & tradition of a particular place, hence they can be treated as a symbolic representation of the destination’s identity. So in several countries they use their unique culinary heritages for building national identity such as Taiwan (Chuang, 2009), France (Frochot, 2003), Africa (Cusack, 2000) etc. In the above regard, Corigliano (2002) stated that ‘Eno-gastronomic’ elements (Indigenous food products and production processes) are the major reason behind the prosperity of food & wine tourism, whiskey tourism, olive oil tourism, tapas tourism etc. According to a recent survey by UNWTO (2017) it was found that, majority (87%) of the nations (from America, Europe, Asia & Pacific, Africa) have considered gastronomy as a strategic element for destination branding and identity creation. Apart from the fact that 46.5% of the Nations who have a food tourism strategy, as a part of their Tourism Action Plan, 24.6% of them have allocated a specific budget for the same.