Following the success of previous editions, UNWTO in collaboration with Basque Culinary Center launch the 3rd Global Competition for Gastronomy Tourism Startups. Thee mission: identify challenges and projects, and catalyze innovations that can transform the Gastronomy Tourism sector in the near future.
Join UNWTO in building back better from COVID-19 with your ideas for a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient sector.
Background:
Tourism is a driver of inclusive and sustainable economic growth, a cross-cutting sector with a high impact on the promotion of social welfare, with the aim of promoting the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
With continuous growth in the last decade, tourism generates approximately one in 10 jobs, and accounts for 10.2% of world GDP. At its intersection with the gastronomy sector, food tourism or culinary tourism, it is organized around experiential trips and assumes as part of its essence ethical and sustainable values related to the territory, heritage, local culture, local products, authenticity, tradition or culinary techniques at the local, regional or national level.
The undoubted influence of gastronomy in travel and the growing demand for gastronomic tourism have made this area one of the segments with the greatest development opportunities attracting growing interest on the part of governments. Food tourism has become one of the most dynamic and creative segments of tourism and, at the same time, has naturally positioned itself as an element of diversification of tourism with a high impact on the promotion of sustainable development at the regional and local levels.
Gastronomy tourism stimulates entrepreneurship and the generation of new companies and organizations that necessarily affect other industries transversally and fosters values such as:
- Sustainability-based on maintaining a balance between economic growth and gastronomic culture and heritage
- The quality of initiatives from production to experience, along the entire tourism value chain
- Authentic communication and a coherent narrative of gastronomic offerings with the participation of all the stakeholders of the sector; from chefs to the media
- Cooperation among all actors throughout the entire value chain of the gastronomic and tourism sector
- Authenticity by highlighting cultural heritage, local products and cultural values
- Gastronomic tourism is in itself, a stimulus to creativity, innovation and sustainable growth where startups with disruptive and open visions can propose new future scenarios that have a positive and transversal impact on various sectors so that they can collaborate and contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.