Gastronomy Tourism: Is Food Tourism a motivation of visiting France?
Author: Katherine Edwards
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This piece of writing fits into strand five of the virtual conference: Consuming or decommodifying? Tourist interactions in destinations. The reason it fits into this strand is due to Food is something visitors; whether inbound, outbound or domestic tourists will need and want to consume.
Frochot (2003) states "The image of France has often been associated with that of a country of culture, fashion, romanticism and, above all, a gastronomic and wine producing country. Among all these icons, food has been a recurring theme in France's tourism promotional strategy both on domestic and international markets".
It was recorded in 2000 that France received 75 million foreign visitors and in 2001 these foreign visitor numbers rose to 76.5 million. Hall (2003) states "this reaffirms that France, with its diversity of tourism products, is an attractive destination".
Of all the European countries, France is by far the one that grants the most importance to its gastronomy, and for many generations, the French have shared the almost absolute conviction that the world's best cooking takes places on their soil. (Pitte, 1991)
Much research has shown that France is in competition with Italy in regards to who can be better when it comes to the gastronomy of the country. France has become first however, over Italy.
This Studies main focus is motivation to France; in order to address what motivates people Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a pyramid formation which divides individual motivations into five categories. The most important category located at the bottom of the hierarchy is physiological needs; these are needs which include food, shelter and sleep. The next section of the Hierarchy is safety. This section includes safety security of the body, safety of employment, safety of family and safety of health. The middle section of the model is Love and Belonging. Love and Belonging being items such as friendships, family relationships and sexual intimacy. The fourth section of the Hierarchy is Esteem; the Esteem section includes self-esteem, confidence, achievement, and respect. Finally, the highest and final section of the Hierarchy is Self-Actualization; this being the least of people's needs. However this includes morality, creativity, and acceptance of facts.
France being a destination who can offer Food and Wine tourism has a major advantage of many other destinations which people visit only for food Tourism.
Although there is an element of motivation to travel to France there are also barriers of the tourists enjoyment of their experience; these may include Hygiene and Health, Local eating habits and table manners, and a communication gap.
Hygiene and health can be an issue in France (and/or other countries) as it is a different culture to what the tourist is used to. The way restaurants are run can also be different to the tourist's home town. Items such as hygiene and health can be a major turn off for tourists. When purchasing a holiday in the tourist home country this can be affected by the tour operator informing the tourist about a number of food dangers and various ailments, in regards to ta specific cuisine. Unfortunately this can then cause the tourist to avoid local products in France.
How people eat is based upon their general culture and where they are from in the world. The western culture use utensils to eat their meals. Based upon this it is known that the Western Culture view contact between fingers and food as unhygienic. While, on the other hand cultures found in Asia prefer to use their fingers when eating their food, they will also share food such as curry, where they can all use their fingers and locate them in the pot. Furthermore some cultures such as the Chinese culture use chopsticks to eat their food, because this is out of another tourists comfort zone the tourist can feel intimidated by the fact that this is what a specific restaurant supplies and expects. Because different cultures live differently, things other cultures do can be greatly criticised and this can again be a factor which can affect a tourist's decision to visit a destination. Within other cultures, it is acceptable in different countries for people to keep live animals in which they intend to eat at some point; however other countries do not believe this should happen.
When travelling to another country, many tourists do not feel they can read menu's or communicate in a good way with the local people. Sometimes this can mean that the tourist will avoid local places. The majority of tourists will go on to avoid visiting establishments which are used by the majority of local people and not aimed at tourists. Concerns within tourists can arise in regards to embarrassment due to the ignorance of local gastronomy. Due to this factor and different cultures living in different ways this can also mean that, this can be a factor which will affect a tourist's motivation to go and visit another country.
Are these three areas' something which motivates you?
A number of areas have been covered throughout this piece; this was completed in order to gain a point of view from all different angles. Food tourism in general has been investigated and also a brief definition of wine tourism as France for this particular piece of writing is the destination which has been used. The writing has also gone over some basic statistics which were relevant to the study. It has also been found that most tourists are not so sure on visiting a destination due to the culture of the locals and the way they do things, for example the way the eat and share their foods, it is not just based upon the culture of the way the local residents do things in their countries it is also based on items such as communication, some tourists are not comfortable with speaking another language prouncing words from another language wrong.
References:
Frochot, I. (2003). An Analysis of Regional Positioning and Its Associated Food Images in French Tourism Regional Brochures. Wine, Food and Tourism Marketing . 14 (3/4), 77 .
Mitchell, R & Hall, Michael (2003). Food Tourism: Around the World. Burlington: Butterworth Heinemann. 60.
Pitte, Robert Jean (2002). French Gastronomy. New York: Columbia University Press. 1.
Frochot (2003) states "The image of France has often been associated with that of a country of culture, fashion, romanticism and, above all, a gastronomic and wine producing country. Among all these icons, food has been a recurring theme in France's tourism promotional strategy both on domestic and international markets".
It was recorded in 2000 that France received 75 million foreign visitors and in 2001 these foreign visitor numbers rose to 76.5 million. Hall (2003) states "this reaffirms that France, with its diversity of tourism products, is an attractive destination".
Of all the European countries, France is by far the one that grants the most importance to its gastronomy, and for many generations, the French have shared the almost absolute conviction that the world's best cooking takes places on their soil. (Pitte, 1991)
Much research has shown that France is in competition with Italy in regards to who can be better when it comes to the gastronomy of the country. France has become first however, over Italy.
This Studies main focus is motivation to France; in order to address what motivates people Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a pyramid formation which divides individual motivations into five categories. The most important category located at the bottom of the hierarchy is physiological needs; these are needs which include food, shelter and sleep. The next section of the Hierarchy is safety. This section includes safety security of the body, safety of employment, safety of family and safety of health. The middle section of the model is Love and Belonging. Love and Belonging being items such as friendships, family relationships and sexual intimacy. The fourth section of the Hierarchy is Esteem; the Esteem section includes self-esteem, confidence, achievement, and respect. Finally, the highest and final section of the Hierarchy is Self-Actualization; this being the least of people's needs. However this includes morality, creativity, and acceptance of facts.
France being a destination who can offer Food and Wine tourism has a major advantage of many other destinations which people visit only for food Tourism.
Although there is an element of motivation to travel to France there are also barriers of the tourists enjoyment of their experience; these may include Hygiene and Health, Local eating habits and table manners, and a communication gap.
Hygiene and health can be an issue in France (and/or other countries) as it is a different culture to what the tourist is used to. The way restaurants are run can also be different to the tourist's home town. Items such as hygiene and health can be a major turn off for tourists. When purchasing a holiday in the tourist home country this can be affected by the tour operator informing the tourist about a number of food dangers and various ailments, in regards to ta specific cuisine. Unfortunately this can then cause the tourist to avoid local products in France.
How people eat is based upon their general culture and where they are from in the world. The western culture use utensils to eat their meals. Based upon this it is known that the Western Culture view contact between fingers and food as unhygienic. While, on the other hand cultures found in Asia prefer to use their fingers when eating their food, they will also share food such as curry, where they can all use their fingers and locate them in the pot. Furthermore some cultures such as the Chinese culture use chopsticks to eat their food, because this is out of another tourists comfort zone the tourist can feel intimidated by the fact that this is what a specific restaurant supplies and expects. Because different cultures live differently, things other cultures do can be greatly criticised and this can again be a factor which can affect a tourist's decision to visit a destination. Within other cultures, it is acceptable in different countries for people to keep live animals in which they intend to eat at some point; however other countries do not believe this should happen.
When travelling to another country, many tourists do not feel they can read menu's or communicate in a good way with the local people. Sometimes this can mean that the tourist will avoid local places. The majority of tourists will go on to avoid visiting establishments which are used by the majority of local people and not aimed at tourists. Concerns within tourists can arise in regards to embarrassment due to the ignorance of local gastronomy. Due to this factor and different cultures living in different ways this can also mean that, this can be a factor which will affect a tourist's motivation to go and visit another country.
Are these three areas' something which motivates you?
A number of areas have been covered throughout this piece; this was completed in order to gain a point of view from all different angles. Food tourism in general has been investigated and also a brief definition of wine tourism as France for this particular piece of writing is the destination which has been used. The writing has also gone over some basic statistics which were relevant to the study. It has also been found that most tourists are not so sure on visiting a destination due to the culture of the locals and the way they do things, for example the way the eat and share their foods, it is not just based upon the culture of the way the local residents do things in their countries it is also based on items such as communication, some tourists are not comfortable with speaking another language prouncing words from another language wrong.
References:
Frochot, I. (2003). An Analysis of Regional Positioning and Its Associated Food Images in French Tourism Regional Brochures. Wine, Food and Tourism Marketing . 14 (3/4), 77 .
Mitchell, R & Hall, Michael (2003). Food Tourism: Around the World. Burlington: Butterworth Heinemann. 60.
Pitte, Robert Jean (2002). French Gastronomy. New York: Columbia University Press. 1.