How to Capture Foodies

Tourism linked to enogastronomy has grown rapidly in recent years: today, more than 5 million foodies a year visit Italy. Foodies are cultural tourists who criss-cross the Italian territory in search of its typical and traditional foods and wines.

Foodies' behavior depends on the interaction of two variables: the destination taken as a whole, and territorial resources, such as arts, crafts, agriculture, which are powerful economic drivers and touristic attractors. Several studies and international comparisons have highlighted the growing importance of the destination variable in the motivations behind the choice made by the enogastronomic tourist. An adequate supply of service requires the creation of a system based on the "territory-resources-actors" triplet, in order to manage and market a destination. Marketing a location is different than marketing a product.

The former must necessarily bring together all the actors of a community centered on a given territory; it puts to the fore the communication of its identity; it explicitly has the objective of improving its internal and external image. The latter almost exclusively involves companies that produce things: it focuses on the product and aims to impose its brand image. When the two marketing perspectives come together the advantages are mutual. You can start from existing interconnections between an enogastronomic product of excellence and the factors internal to the territory: raw materials, microclimate, production methods harking back to the history and tradition of the local community. Wine and typical food products are elements of socialization and powerful testimonials of cultural traditions, art and lifestyle. The agricultural sector, notwithstanding the multifunctionality assigned to it by the EU common agricultural policy, must interface with the tourist industry, in order to provide value to peripheral lands, thereby rebalancing essential social values and domains. A territorial system must come into being which can act as reference for the minor Italy of thousands of rural villages which have high propensity to tourist accommodation, agritourism, bed&breakfasts and restaurants, where territorial development can be an embodiment of the Made in Italy and educate consumers about quality. All this must be done while keeping in mind the role of traceability in production and the central role of communication.

The success of an integrated approach to the valorization of typical and traditional food production depends on the ability to attract tourism while limiting negative impacts in terms of excessive exploitation of local resources, giving the utmost attention to guaranteeing food safety and traceability, and supporting positive local spillovers, also in terms of equitable distribution of benefits accruing from tourism.