Culinary Tourism in Ireland - An Assessment of its evolution and current state

Japke, Elke

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/3663

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Authors

Japke, Elke

Advisor(s)

Jorge, João Paulo da Conceição Silva

Abstract(s)

Culinary tourism is an area that has long been included in strategical planning by several countries or regions. Culinary heritage is highly cultural and can contribute to the promotion of tourism destinations. Experiences related to food are a strong component in the formation of a destination´s image. However, according promotion needs to be wellcoordinated. Food is naturally related to tourism but it requires the supervision of tourism authorities to create and maintain culinary tourism as a successful tourism product. This paper establishes the history of food and tourism in Ireland and shows how these two merged, resulting in the start of culinary tourism in this country. Furthermore, the development since the start of culinary tourism has been examined in the form of an extensive content analysis, leading to a SWOT analysis of the current performance of this area. To support the argumentation, expert interviews have been carried out through the use of questionnaires. The assumption was that Ireland´s offer regarding tourism experiences related to food is ideal for culinary tourism to be successful. Based on the knowledge about the history of tourism, however, it was to be expected that weaknesses would be found in the work of tourism authorities, hence the coordination and, especially, promotion. Due to the detailed analysis of promotional webpages as well as publications by Fáilte Ireland, the country´s national tourism development authority, the main hypothesis could be confirmed. Ireland´s offer regarding culinary tourism shows a great variety of food-related experiences. But these ideal conditions have not fully been recognized by the authorities. Promotion, especially online, lacks pro-activeness regarding this area. A significant weakness is the structure of the main promotional webpage Ireland.com. Information regarding food tourism is difficult to find. The issues uncovered could easily be resolved by simple changes, such as the implementation of hyperlinks on certain sites. Publications like the Food Tourism Implementation Framework 2011-2013 and Food Tourism Activity Plan 214-2016 showed great potential with regards to a successful development of culinary tourism. Follow-up work was, unfortunately, only published shortly before this dissertation was completed. Therefore, the Food and Drink Strategy 2018-2023 could not be analysed for this paper. Nevertheless, the content analysis, SWOT analysis and expert interviews have confirmed that culinary tourism could be successful in Ireland if its promotion within marketing tools was improved and more pro-active.