Globally, gastronomic tourism is emerging as a form of special interest tourism in which food and wine are the primary motivating factors for travel to a particular destination. One need not look far to see the barrage of marketing campaigns utilising food and wine to entice the high-yielding gourmet tourist dollar.
Flipping through the current crop of lifestyle magazines, it is clear food and wine have emerged as tourist attractions in their own right.
Interestingly though, most food and wine tourism marketing shots are taken with exquisite landscapes as the backdrop. Elaborate picnics are enjoyed beside picturesque lakes or glasses of chardonnay are sipped as the sun sets over the vineyard.

Like tourism, food is branded by ‘place’ as a marker of authenticity, not only of the product but also the region’s ‘cultural’ landscape. Tourism authorities around the globe are recognising the potential of gastronomic tourism as a powerful tool to identify and promote places, regions or entire countries.There are many examples of world-renowned products that have derived their names from their place or region of origin such as Neufchatel and Champagne in France, or Parma and Tuscany in Italy.