FOOD TOURISM DESTINATION STRATEGY

We can help put your destination on the food lover's map, or consult on how to refine your current offering to meet changing consumer demands.

Food or Beverage Tourism Destination Strategy Benefits

Clear Road Map

It can be hard to identify all your food and beverage resources, bring them together, weigh their value, assess market forces, and fold everything into a plan that works. We've been doing this a long time so we know what travelers want and what is likely to work for your destination.

Competitive Advantage

If every destination is a "foodie's paradise" or offers dozens of craft breweries or local produce abounds, then how unique is your destination? We'll help you identify your competitive advantage and USP.

Stakeholder Engagement

Master plans have a lot of stakeholders - the tourism board, local government, local businesses and local residents, among others. We'll meet with your stakeholders, ask the questions you can't, and devise a plan that works for everyone.

Get Your Food Tourism Strategy

Features of a Food/Beverage Tourism Strategy

4-D® Process

Discover. Deliberate. Develop. Deliver. It's our proprietary four-step process honed over nearly 20 years. We help destinations understand their situation and help you to devise a plan to woo food & drink loving travelers.

Action Plan

With your private food/beverage tourism Master Plan, we can also provide a Food Tourism Action plan for distribution to area stakeholders. It's like a summary of your Strategy that you'll be comfortable sharing publicly.

Third Party Assessment

As outsiders, we see things you don't. We can say things you can't. Put your trust in us - the subject matter experts you need for your project.

Worldwide Experience

We founded the food travel trade almost 20 years ago. It's our main focus, and has been since 2001. Allow us to apply our knowledge & insight to your unique challenge.

Custom Destination Research (Optional)

Research is an important component of strategy. Sometimes general food tourism research isn't sufficient for your needs. Let our food tourism research experts conduct custom research tailored to your exact needs.

PsychoCulinary Profiling (Optional)

Just like how two food lovers are not the same, two food-centric destinations are not the same either. Don't use the same selling message for all food lovers. Know exactly who your visitors and customers are so you can meet and exceed their expectations.

Destination Experience Assessment (Optional)

Not ready for a full Strategy? We can deliver a standalone area assessment that you can build on as you are ready. Can also be included in the Destination Food Tourism Strategy.

Stakeholder Training (Optional)

We're the industry experts. Let us train your stakeholders on food tourism - what it is and is not, the benefits, and the opportunities and challenges.

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Clients We've Helped Include

Alberta, Canada

Food Tourism Strategy

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Bristol, England

Food Tourism Strategy

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Problem
Bristol is a charming city in southwest England. It has a lot to offer potential visitors, from a rich and fascinating history and vibrant culture, to an exciting food and beverage scene. The problem is that Bristol has always been in the shadow of much larger London. And nearby popular attractions like Stonehenge and the city of Bath, with its extensive Roman ruins, also compete for visitor attention. Visitors would pass through Bristol typically on day trips, unaware of all that the city has to offer.

Solution
Visit Bristol suspected it might have something special to offer with its food and beverage businesses, products and experiences. Thanks to an award from the Discover England Fund, Bristol could explore its potential as a world class urban food and drink destination. Visit Bristol hired us to perform a site inspection and asset inventory, and to write a food and beverage tourism strategy to serve Bristol for the next five years.

Results
We delivered a 159-page report including 49 pages of custom PsychoCulinary profiling research, which helped Bristol to understand its unique selling proposition to woo food-loving travelers vis-à-vis other destinations. The strategy was presented to area stakeholders. Within 6 months, Visit Bristol saw the following results:

CLEAR FOCUS. Visit Bristol had clarity about its food and beverage offering, including what the area does best, what its unique assets are that it should be promoting to visitors, and its future potential to attract food- and drink-loving visitors. It also began to see ways that food and beverage can be the “hook” that entice visitors to choose Bristol as a primary, rather than day-trip, destination.
MORE CONSISTENCY. Visit Bristol was able to work a consistent food/beverage narrative across all its activities, from travel trade and cooperative marketing, to product development in other niches.
INCREASED CONFIDENCE. The strategy brought together area stakeholders, many of whom didn’t see the benefit of getting involved before, to participate in food and beverage product development and marketing activities organized by Visit Bristol.
UNIFIED VISION. Area partners began to find new ways to expand their food and beverage offerings, and fine-tune their products and customer service to better meet the needs of travelers to Bristol. The community was also inspired to start developing future food and beverage experiences, such as a major international cider festival.

What does a Food Tourism Strategy Include?

Mix and match the services you need to further enhance your Food Tourism Strategy.

Destination Site Inspection

Stakeholder Interviews

Custom Food/Drink-Loving Traveler Research

PsychoCulinary Profiling

Destination Experience Assessment

Creative Brainstorming

Stakeholder Training

When you choose to work with us, you pay for our knowledge & experience, our methodology and business process, our quality control and of course, the World Food Travel Association brand on the finished work.

Download our Bristol, England Case Study

Read in more detail how we helped Bristol, England with visioning, planning, experience assessment, PsychoCulinary profiling, and destination food strategy.

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