Attracting Culinary Tourists

Welcome to Attracting Culinary Tourists, an Elevating Canadian Experiences Webinar.

The goal of the webinar is to arm you with the information and tactics needed to attract culinary tourists to your destinations. This includes developing the ability to:

• differentiate between culinary tourism and other forms of tourism, while identifying examples of culinary experiences relevant to your region;
• describe the breadth and diversity of businesses involved in culinary tourism through deconstructing the culinary tourism value chain; and
• explain to tourism operators and stakeholders why culinary tourism is a vital component in servicing the needs of travellers.

This webinar also teaches you how to:

• distinguish between the various types of culinary tourists through an explanation of how the market segment has evolved;
• define foodways and integrate them into existing value propositions to meet the expectations of culinary tourists;
• identify opportunities to generate increased visitor demand through attracting culinary tourists; and
• Apply best practices and grassroots marketing tactics when attracting culinary tourists.

Welcome to Attracting Culinary Tourists, an Elevating Canadian Experiences webinar.

Agenda

Before moving on in the webinar, please note the sidebar along your screen where links to external references and other resources will appear throughout the presentation.

At this time, it’s important to acknowledge the extraordinary value that Indigenous peoples across Canada bring to the tourism industry. The land and traditional territories of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit provide unique culinary offerings that enhance the experiences for visitors to destinations all over the country.

Through the combined efforts of several organizations, including the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada and Indigenous Culinary of Associated Nations, Indigenous culinary has grown into a popular driver for the development of tourism in Canada.

Elevating Canadian Experiences

The tourism sector is a key contributor to Canada’s economy, and there is opportunity to maximize its potential by showcasing our culinary excellence to tourists, both domestic and international, and expanding products and experiences into the shoulder and winter seasons.

Funded by the Government of Canada, the Elevating Canadian Experiences program offers tailored content to help destination marketing organizations and businesses develop strategies to boost culinary tourism as well as winter and shoulder season tourism across the country.

The ECE program is a team effort, in which deep research and shared knowledge are brought together to ensure tourism continues to thrive as an economic pillar in Canada.

Webinar Learning Outcomes

The goal of the webinar is to arm you with the information and tactics needed to attract culinary tourists to your destinations. This includes developing the ability to:

• differentiate between culinary tourism and other forms of tourism, while identifying examples of culinary experiences relevant to your region;
• describe the breadth and diversity of businesses involved in culinary tourism through deconstructing the culinary tourism value chain; and
• explain to tourism operators and stakeholders why culinary tourism is a vital component in servicing the needs of travellers.

This webinar also teaches you how to:

• distinguish between the various types of culinary tourists through an explanation of how the market segment has evolved;
• define foodways and integrate them into existing value propositions to meet the expectations of culinary tourists;
• identify opportunities to generate increased visitor demand through attracting culinary tourists; and
• Apply best practices and grassroots marketing tactics when attracting culinary tourists.

Module One: An Introduction to Culinary Tourism

Intro to Culinary Tourism

Before attempting to attract culinary tourists to your destination, it’s important to understand the gap between the food & drink and tourism industries. By doing so, you’re able to identify ways to bridge that gap, which opens the door to developing compelling culinary experiences that drive tourism in Canada.

Bridging the Gap Between Food & Drink and Tourism

Although many restaurants don’t consider themselves as tourism businesses, it’s critical that those serving food and drink are open and ready to meet the needs of visitors to your destinations. Similarly, not all tourism businesses harness the value that the local culinary community adds to a destination’s product and service offerings.

The result is tourism attractions, such as museums, often sell food that has nothing to do with the place in which they operate.

This situation is not unique to Canada; in fact, destinations all around the world are continuing to serve the food that they think visitors want. However, our research shows there is consumer demand for higher quality culinary experiences that reflect the destination they’re visiting.

So, what does it mean to bring these two industries together through culinary tourism development?

In short, it means offering more meaningful and multisensory experiences that reflect your destinations. It also means stimulating visitor demand and localizing the economic impact on your tourism operators, businesses, and attractions.

And considering the current realities facing the two industries, a shift towards a culinary tourism model will also help build both resiliency and sustainability into Canadian tourism – especially in the post-pandemic era.

Now that we’ve identified the gap between the tourism industries, let’s define exactly what culinary tourism is. It’s considered “any tourism experience where a person interacts with food and drink that reflects the history, heritage, and culture of a place.”

Food tourism, and gastronomy tourism are other labels for culinary tourism, with one term being used over another depending on the destination; for example, gastronomy tourism is more often used in Europe.

The important thing to remember is that culinary tourism is focused on the meaningful connection between food and place.

There are countless activities and experiences associated with culinary tourism. A few examples are:

• apple picking at a local farm or orchard;
• making maple taffy while on a winter hike; or
• having a local and seasonal goods picnic at a remote location or conservation area.

It’s important to understand the diverse experiences associated with culinary tourism, because it shows that not all tourism experiences stand alone from food and beverage. In fact, there is often overlap, which must be consider when trying to attract culinary tourists to your destinations.

To explain, think about how rural tourism is enhanced when you combine it with a culinary-related experience, such as touring a wine region in an RV – with a designated driver, of course.

Or consider how outdoor adventures are complemented by culinary tourism, like a guided fishing trip ending with a shore lunch prepared by a local chef using seasonal ingredients from the region’s food producers.

Culinary Tourism Value Chain

Food & drink products and experiences are used by a variety of tourism businesses to capitalize on the growing popularity of culinary tourism. This led to the development of the culinary tourism value chain, which was designed to increase the competitive advantage of your destinations and their operators.

Given the limited capacity of a single service provider or attraction, businesses band together through collaboration in order to deliver combined value to consumers. This allows individual operators to remain focused on what they do best while benefiting from the increased efficiency and effectiveness of working as a collective.

Visitor experiences are also enriched with each layer of value they receive when exploring a destination. This presents the opportunity for your destinations’ culinary communities to form strategic partnerships with businesses and deliver multisensory experiences that exceed the expectations of visitors.

Any business that includes a taste of place or culinary experience as part of their offerings are featured in the value chain, such as:

• accommodations;
• attractions;
• beverage producers;
• cooking schools;
• farmers’ and public markets;
• festivals & events;
• growers, producers, and suppliers;
• foodservice operators;
• retailers; and
• tour operators.

The Future of Culinary Tourism

Prior to COVID-19, experiential travel was on the rise. And when the tourism industry finally rebounds from the pandemic, research suggests the trend will continue to rise in popularity.

We know there is pent-up demand for travel and consumers are seeking human connection more so than ever. Culinary tourism offers hands-on, multisensory experiences with local businesses and attractions and allows visitors to connect with your destinations in a more meaningful way.

Also, as we’ve seen in the past, and especially through the pandemic, consumers are increasingly more aware of their local food system. And travellers are no different, wanting to know where their food comes from when visiting a Canadian destination.

Culinary tourists are especially eager for hands-on experiences that allow them to interact with the people and stories of the places they visit. For them, it’s a way to get to know the destination better.

The pandemic has also shown that driving trips will be prioritized over flying, specifically with culinary tourism in mind. As such, there’s an opportunity to target Canadian travellers who wouldn’t normally travel within the country but are now looking at places closer to home.

This also indicates a shift to a more safety-conscious decision-making process about where, when, why, and how consumers travel for pleasure. Knowing this, businesses must develop communication strategies to educate travellers about how they are kept safe when visiting your destinations.

Aside from that, outdoor activities and attractions with fewer crowds are bound to be favoured in a post-COVID environment. It’s important to keep this factor in mind when developing culinary tourism experiences in your region.

Module Two: What Attracts Culinary Tourists?

So, what attracts travellers to remote and rural destinations?

As you know, urban regions often seek to attract a broad range of consumers who haven’t visited or seldom visit their destination. An international traveller from the U.K. or the U.S., for example, who might only travel to Canada once or twice in their lifetime.

A rural explorer, on the other hand, is often from a large urban area and looking to escape the bustle of the city. They are interested in day trips to the smaller communities surrounding where they live and are keen to make the most of their free time with family or as a couple. And if a relative or friend is visiting for a few days, these types of consumers will often suggest the unique culinary tourism or agritourism experiences nearby as something to do.

Rural explorers are looking for unique, quality experiences to discover, try, and be pleasantly surprised by. Which presents an opportunity for rural communities across Canada, as they are ideally position to fill the needs of travellers searching for hidden gems, quaint and tranquil sceneries, and small-town hospitality.

Don’t forget, these consumers aren’t interested in the most luxurious, most iconic places; they want to make discoveries off the beaten path, while connecting with nature and creating lasting memories with friends and family. They are also passionate about supporting local businesses and attractions and often seek out farm-to-table experiences when available.

Finally, rural explorers share their adventures with other tourists more often than international travelers, and the potential for repeat visits and additional product sales are much higher – even after they return to their urban homes.

Before moving on in the module, please refer worksheet now available in the sidebar.

In the worksheet, jot down a few points about one of your favorite trips, specifically what you remember about the culinary experiences in and around the destination.

Now, ask yourself:

1. What role did food & drink play in making the trip one of your favourites?
2. Why would people travel to that destination specifically for food and drink?

Module Three: Identifying and Understanding Culinary Tourists

Foodies and Food-Connected Consumers

Next, let’s identify exactly who culinary tourists are.

When talking about the culinary tourist, there is a common stereotype about who that person is. Many of us picture someone at a fancy restaurant, taking Instagram photos, and writing about culinary experiences on their food blog. They are the quintessential foodie and an important part of the market. But they are only part the story.

Although a foodie is very much a culinary tourist, they are only one part of much larger market segment. In fact, culinary tourists are a very diverse group who are motivated by experiential travel and want authentic connections with the destinations they visit.

In other words, culinary tourists are “visitors who plan their trips partially or totally in order to taste the cuisine of a place.” They are both consumers looking for exclusive meals at high-end restaurants as well as those craving street food from markets stalls, while some culinary tourists are agritourists looking to connect to where their food comes from.

Before defining the other segments of culinary tourists, let’s take a closer look at foodies first.

These are the classic, niche food tourists who plan some of their trips specifically around food and drink experiences. And even when they are travelling for other reasons, such as a business trip or family vacation, they are still looking for ways to incorporate local tastes into their itinerary.

Foodies are motivated by food and drink, of course, but they are also interested in a destination’s culinary-related activities and agritourism offerings. These consumers are informed and plan many of their experiences and must-visit attractions in a destination prior to their arrival; this includes making the necessary reservations for accommodation and transportation.

It’s important to note, culinary tourism is a direct subset of cultural tourism, which means many foodies can also be considered cultural tourists. As such, when attracting this type of traveller to your destination or business, remember to clearly communicate the local culture, unique culinary experiences, and experiential tourism offered.

It’s also imperative to have a strong online presence with an informative, accessible website that allows consumers to plan their trip ahead of time.

The second group of culinary tourists are food-connected consumers.

Remember, not all food tourists think of themselves as being that specific type of traveller. So, unlike foodies who often make decisions about travel based on food and drink, food-connected tourists view culinary experiences as a pleasant and enjoyable add on; but it’s not necessarily a determining factor when selecting a destination to visit.

As such, food-connected consumers typically don’t plan all of their culinary experience in advance. This presents an opportunity to spontaneously attract these consumers to your businesses and attractions after they’re arrived to the destination.

To explain, consider a traveller who happily stops by a farmers’ market because the owner of the local B&B recommended it to them. In this case, they didn’t specifically seek out the experience, but having it suggested to them added a multisensory element to their stay, which made the trip that much more memorable.

A third type of culinary tourist is the agritourist, which is a niche segment within food tourism.

Many culinary tourists enjoy agritourism activities, like berry picking and visiting farm stands; however, agritourists take their passion for food and drink a step further, seeking out first-hand experiences such as watching demos, joining a farm tour, or even volunteering to stomp grapes at a local vineyard.

Agritourists are also interested in food production and want to learn about the people, places and practices involved in the agriculture of a destination.

For operators trying to attract this type of culinary tourist, watch the Elevating Canadian Experiences webinar, Growing Agritourism, which is now linked in the sidebar.

Other Types of Tourists and Tourism

The final type of culinary tourist is every other type of travelling consumer.

When you expand your definition of culinary tourism and the culinary tourist, it’s easier to identify the ways you can localize dollars within your region. Remember, all tourists have to eat, and in turn, that creates an opportunity to boost tourism through unique experiences with food and drink.

Even if someone’s primary reason to visit is having an outdoor or rural experience, as a business, there are ways you can enhance their trip through culinary offerings. This is true for restaurants and food providers, but there’s also potential for attractions, accommodations, and festivals as well.

Sometimes, all it takes is good storytelling to convince a visitor the extra dollar for a local product is more than worth it. The key is to connect consumers to the real people – the growers, producers, brewers, and so on – behind the scenes.

When you use the power of this type of local upsell, what you’re doing is turning a general tourist into a culinary tourist. And by doing so, you’re also encouraging them to support the local economy in your destinations.

Food and drink is only a primary motivator to visit a destination for a select group of tourists: foodies. Meaning, culinary tourism doesn’t live in isolation, and more often than not, culinary experiences are seen as a complement to other tourism activities.

This is beneficial as not every destination has the ability to provide a complete food tourism experience. But that doesn’t mean food and drink aren’t still a very important part of the offering. To this point, 88.2% of destinations consider gastronomy a strategic element in defining their image and brand – even if it’s not the main draw of the region.

To explain, consider the history buff who visits a destination to explore its heritage sites and museums. During their trip, their interactions with food and drink, enjoying homemade ice cream while touring a historical town, for example, are what help create a well-rounded and truly memorable experience.

With that in mind, at the destination level, this presents opportunity to build out culinary experiences alongside your primary tourism draws.

Module Four: Attracting Niche Markets to Your Business

When it comes to attracting these niche markets – foodies, food connected consumers, and agritourists – to your business, the strategies are different than luring an international traveler to a major destination like Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver.

Don’t expect your business, particularly small restaurants and farm attractions, to be automatically added to an itinerary because of its immediate appeal. Your products and services are more likely to be complementary to the trip and experienced outside of the traveller’s itinerary.

As such, it’s important to tailor your marketing accordingly, knowing your business is something a visitor will discover once they’ve arrived to the area – or as a special stop along their way from one place to the next. Partnering with main-draw attractions or tourism operators and creating unique packages is another opportunity to attract culinary tourists.

And when you offer authentic, multisensory experiences tied to the people and places of a destination, your business has the chance to become an unexpected highlight.

Before we move on in the module, thinking back to your responses about your favourite trip and how culinary experiences made it more memorable. In the second worksheet now available in the sidebar, expand upon thoughts by answering the following questions:

1. How does access to local food and drink affect the destination’s offering?
2. How could this destination be strengthened by local food supply chains?
3. Do you know where their food supplies coming from? If so, include those locations in your answer.

Genuine and Immersive Experiences

Generally, tourists are looking for authenticity and great experiences tied to the place they’re visiting – which highlights the importance of creating genuine and immersive culinary offerings that connect ingredients, production, and processes to the local culture and traditions.

For instance, in Bangkok, a unique experience is the floating market, where canals are lined with “street food” suppliers. It’s a decades’ long tradition in Bangkok, and part of local, everyday life, but for a traveler, it’s an incredible farm-to-fork experience unique to the destination.

Multisensory Experiences

Next, developing multisensory experiences is vital when attracting culinary tourists to your business. This means taste holds as much weight as sight, sound, smell, and touch.

In other words, food and drink is complemented by all the other types of sensory experiences. In the Bangkok example, food is only part of the draw; it’s a combination of the boat ride, the smells and sounds of the bustling market, and the interesting scenery that makes the experience truly memorable.

In a nutshell, a multisensory experience appeals to all five senses, with food and drink being the only tourism offering capable of doing so. This is why it’s important for businesses with unique culinary products to offer authentic and immersive experiences, such as tastings or on-farm samplings, where all five senses are engaged.

For operators looking for more information on creating this kind of experience, watch the Elevating Canadian Experiences webinar, Multisensory Experience Development, now linked in the sidebar.

Risks & Barriers

We’ve discussed some of the opportunities of attracting niche markets to your business, but what about some of the challenges?

Let’s take a look at what would deter a tourist from participating in an immersive culinary experience.

Safety is one of the primary concerns for travellers considering a food tourism or agritourism experience. Consider the floating market in Bangkok and the potential for water-related accidents; or visiting a Canadian farmstead and the dangers associated with being on a working farm.

Whether it’s picking fruits and vegetables, foraging for mushrooms, or floating on a river and tasting new foods, there are perceived risks to culinary tourism as well as real ones – even more so following a global crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

To reduce fear and build trust with consumers, it’s important to address these risks ahead of time and clearly communicate how your prioritizing the safety of visitors. This starts with identifying all the risks surrounding your experiences; and don’t forget, what appears safe and routine to you, might be totally new to a tourist and outside of their comfort zone.

It’s important to remember, similar to most consumers, tourists will often choose something more familiar than an activity with too much uncertainty surrounding their safety and comfort.

Attracting Niche Markets to Your Business

So, how do you infuse authenticity through local cuisine and traditions into your own business, and how can you create multisensory experiences within your destination?

First, by identifying foodways and where your ingredients come from, and then highlighting why those specific products are important and how they’re connected to your destination’s culture and traditions. This includes why these offers are unique to your business the community you operate in.

Businesses offering authentic and immersive experiences offer layers of value not only with their products or services, but also with the stories told by the owners, their staff, and even their local customers.

Module Five: Defining Foodways

Before moving on in the presentation, let’s refer back to your favourite trip again. You can record your thinking in a third worksheet that is now available for download in the sidebar. During your culinary experiences:

1. Were you ever curious about how the food and drink was prepared?
2. Did you think about the ingredients used and where they came from?
3. Or did you consider whether the cooking techniques and agricultural practices were tied to local culture and traditions?

When you start to think about the journey your food takes from farm-to-table, an interesting story unfolds.

A good example of this how there are multiple versions of a tourtière in Quebec, with each being declared as the original, featuring their own unique stories and flavours depending the region and seasonality of ingredients.

Generally speaking, tourtière, six-pates, and pâté à la viande are all types of meat pies in Quebec. However, the recipes – from the ingredients used, the availability of the meats, the spices, and so on – differ from region to region. So much so, strong competing views exists in the province on what a tourtière really is.

Ask a Saguenéen what a tourtière is, and they’ll give you a very different answer from someone in Gaspé, while another chef in the Montérégies will claim their recipe as being the most authentic. That’s a prime example of a culinary tourism experience that is directly tied to a destination because the pies reflect local cultures and traditions.

In an increasingly globalized world, why do we continue to associate maple syrup with Canada, tacos with Mexico, risotto with Italy, and wontons with China?

You’ll find these foods in the markets and restaurants of your hometown, but many of us will still travel a great distance to try these dishes in the places they originate from. You see, the history of food and drink is often regional, with the ingredients naturally tied to local history, culture, and the landscape.

Which is to say, tacos, risotto, and wontons are more than just menu items; they’re a manifestation of a destination and its regional foodways.

So what are foodways?

Consider foodways as:

• the connection between agriculture and the people of a place;
• the driver of regional culture and traditions; and
• the main contributor to shaping the landscape and livelihoods of the communities across Canada.

This is why culinary tourism plays such an important role in celebrating and protecting rural heritage in your destinations.

Foodways are dynamic. They change in relation to social, economic, and environmental conditions, which is why there are unique stories related to foodways in every destination. Foodways are the who, what, where, when, why, and how of food – they are the reason food becomes part of the fabric of a community.

So, if you offer a culinary tourism experience, foodways are an important piece of the puzzle. Think about the suppliers you support with the food and drink you offer travellers:

• Where do the ingredients come from?
• How are they tied to your region and local traditions?

These elements are something visitors are eager to connect to. Don’t miss an opportunity to share those stories and reflect local foodways in the experiences you offer.

Tastes of Place

Another element to consider are the Tastes of Place, which directly connect locals and visitors to foodways. These are the interactions and experiences that bring life to the stories behind the food and drink of your region.

That said, there is no single taste of place for a destination. For instance, the tourtière isn’t solely associated to Quebec, nor is the dish a complete reflection of the culinary offerings in its many destinations. No, instead, think of the tastes of place as a compilation of experiences and interactions with the food and drink available in your region.

And remember, it’s not just about the ingredients and flavours of a dish, but it’s also about connecting travellers with the people, places, and foodways contributing along the way.

Intangible Assets

Tastes of place aren’t always things that you eat and drink; they can also include intangible assets, such as rural hospitality, agricultural landscapes, community feel and good company. Through storytelling you can tie all these pieces together and make the connections more obvious for visitors.

By including memorable experiences in your business and tying them to the region, you connect to the foodways and create a bond between the destination and traveller, making the experience unique and more meaningful.

Local Food

Culinary tourism can move a trip from great to unforgettable, with food and drink adding an additional sensory layer to the memories – that of taste. And local food is an excellent way to deliver this type of experience.

The concept of farm-to-fork, or sea-to-table, is about connecting diverse local supplies to authentic culinary experiences. Doing so creates added value, which most tourists desire and are often willing to pay a little extra for – from paying a dollar more for a local craft beer to seeking out food and drink retailers with specialized goods and unique atmospheres unlike anything found at the average grocery store.

Personal vs. Regional Foodways

That said, local food is not the be all and end all of culinary tourism. It’s also important to consider the evolution of recipes when exploring a region’s foodways. Think of an Indian restaurant on Vancouver Island: perhaps they offer a local blueberry lassi alongside the traditional mango variety.

This is a cultural fusion reflecting the influence of local ingredients on traditional recipes. Yes, local food and drink plays a key role in defining the foodways of an area, but in this instance, local sourcing is not essential to food tourism development. Instead, the personal or regional foodways are a more important highlight.

For some travelers, food is more than sustenance; it’s a way of understanding a place. That’s why showcasing foodways through storytelling is so important when communicating tastes of place to visitors – it illustrates personal food journeys and makes the consumer’s experience more meaningful.

A simple example of this is when a menu explains a family restaurant’s connection to the dishes they offer and the foodways that brought the ingredients to the visitor’s plate.

Tips for Integrating Foodways

To help you integrate foodways into the development of culinary tourism in your destination, please refer to the following five tips. You can also download the full list of tips for reference through the link now available in the sidebar.

• Tip 1: Offer a unique “taste of place” or expression of your region and understand how your business fits into the regional food tourism narrative. Most importantly, let people know that you do this to attract food tourists to your business.
• Tip 2: Identify where your ingredients and products are sourced from, including promoting your suppliers
• Tip 3: Celebrate your partnerships within the local community, including online
• Tip 4: Share stories about the recipes you use and the food you serve, and how it is tied to the region or your family history, both in person and online
• Tip 5: Offer tastings, trainings, and/or educational opportunities that empower your staff with the knowledge required to sell your food, because if the owner isn’t always present, staff need to know the stories too.

Module Six: Reaching the Market

So far we’ve discussed how to attract niche markets such as culinary tourists. Now, let’s touch on how your reach these types of consumers. Fill out these reflection questions in the new worksheet available in the sidebar.

Before we dive into this section, let’s think back to your trip memory again. Recall that favourite trip and reflect on these two questions, including the most common responses:

1. How did you learn about the experience before selecting it as part of your travel itinerary?

2. Was it an experience you planned for before leaving, or something that was impromptu and complementary?

Use the Right Mediums

People are getting their news from an ever-increasing list of non-traditional mediums. Such as:

• Buzzfeed;
• news apps; and
• review sites

Having a website isn’t enough today. Keep in mind, if a consumer has browsed your website and is ready to purchase a product or an experience, it’s likely that individual was attracted to the site by many other forms of media beforehand.  Your website is often the last path to purchase, so it’s important to consider how you’re driving traffic to your website.

Remember, your audience is ‘hungry’ for easy to digest, engaging, beautiful content and they are using modern tools and apps to do so. This highlights the importance of connecting to consumers using the right mediums, while providing relevant content that educates, entertains, and inspires.

It’s also important to note the current trends of popular media. In this case, visuals – such as captivating images and videos – receive more engagement in the form of shares, likes, and comments.

Social Media Content

Education and awareness are key elements to creating a lasting impression online. Social media can drive sales, yes, but rather than selling a product through your posts, seek to inform, guide, and educate your followers instead.

The internet is a noisy place, with consumers being bombarded by advertising and sales messages at every turn. To stick out from the crowd, focus on drawing travellers to your website by telling inspiring and educational stories about your destinations and the experiences you offer.

Your posts don’t have to be picture-perfect either; as long as you offer value through interesting and engaging content, visitors are more likely to be interested to learn more.

For instance, a farmer can share a short, simple video on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok explaining the growing process of apples. Or the owner of a local seafood shop can share a short blog post about their first time catching lobster and how the experience inspired them to follow fishing as a career path.

These are types of stories and content that create excitement around your destination and the businesses within it. Again, it’s about highlighting the connection between the ingredients, the place, the agricultural techniques, and the people who make up the culinary experiences you offer.

Engaging Through Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)

Destination Marketing Organizations and Provincial Marketing Organizations, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and AirBnB experiences are all examples of Online Travel Agencies and tourism social media channels.

Claiming your space on any of these platforms presents you with opportunities to connect directly with consumers and potential visitors. And don’t’ forget, clients leave reviews on these channels, so one of the best way to stay top-of-mind is to review the pages of the businesses within your destination and responding quickly to customer reviews – whether they are positive or negative.

Prepare your messages in advance if you want to save time, but try and make each response as personalized as possible – you don’t want to sound like a robot! Be responsive, spontaneous, and use humour when appropriate. Most importantly, be respectful, genuine and show compassion when answering reviews.

Engaging consumers through Online Travel Agencies is the perfect opportunity to showcase the whole culinary experience, not just the taste. The temptation is to just post pictures of our storefront, restaurant, barn space, or picturesque scenery, but it’s the food and the ambiance of a destination are what attract culinary tourists the most.

So focus on what you serve; not your space. And don’t be afraid to showcase the ingredients you use along with where they are sourced from, especially if it’s local.

Brand Positioning & Storytelling Tips

Finally, to help you establish a strong brand positioning and attract culinary tourists through the power of storytelling, please refer to the following tips, which are also available in a final download in the sidebar.

• Tip 1: Include high-quality photos of food products and experiences in your online presence
• Tip 2: Share food-based updates through your social media channels and encourage customers to do the same
• Tip 3: Actively collect feedback from customers on your food products and/or experiences
• Tip 4: Facilitate positive reviews of your food products and experiences on review sites and respond constructively to negative comments, as appropriate
• Tip 5: Know the key components of your food and drink story and share these consistently
• Tip 6: Share your story in diverse ways, both in person and online
• Tip 7: Ensure visitors leave your establishment with a clear understanding of your food and drink story
• Tip 8: Empower staff to be ambassadors for the region who can recommend other food and drink experiences for visitors to enjoy

Thank You

Thank you for your participation. Be sure to check out other culinary tourism webinars offered in the Elevating Canadian Experiences content hub.

For more information, or if you have any questions, please visit culinarytourismalliance.com.