WINNIPEG -- Culinary tourists -- travellers who choose their destination for the food and drink -- are quickly becoming one of the fastest growing niche markets in the tourism industry, delegates to a national food conference heard last week.
As a result, Canadian governments and businesses are scrambling to better promote their own regional attractions and reap the economic rewards from these foodies with wanderlust.
Unlike the visitor who seeks cheap eats in familiar chains, culinary tourists think nothing of spending hundreds of dollars a day on meals -- with tabs often surpassing what they've paid in accommodation or transportation, said Brad Hughes, chair of the Cuisine Canada national culinary conference.
About 100 food writers, culinary educators, government representatives and business operators took part in the event in Winnipeg.
Hughes, a veteran culinary tourist and editor-in-chief of Ciao! Magazine in Winnipeg, said culinary tourism attracts people who may have already been to a place before, but return in search of a different level of experience.
He said the appeal is an "edible culture" that is shared through experiences ranging from "culinary immersion weekends" that hook visitors up with chefs from the best restaurants, to cooking schools and tours that show where the food comes from. "If I can go to Chicago and I can meet the owner and chef of three of the best restaurants in the city by going on a culinary immersion weekend, then I come back with stories I couldn't have gotten if I'd just paid $12 admission to a museum or gone to those restaurants," Hughes said. "It's a very sexy thing because you're immersing yourself to the point where you're consuming the food and it's becoming part of you."
Hughes said culinary tourism has exploded in the past decade, owing in large part to those aging baby boomers in search of unique ways to spend their ample travel dollars.
In Canada, almost every region has found a way to package and market its culinary highlights, Hughes said. Winnipeg, for example, has a reputation among culinary tourists that is far more complimentary than the oft-heard stereotyping about mosquitoes and six-month-long frigid winters.
In British Columbia, the provincial government and Olympic organizers are working feverishly to meet their goal of doubling tourism revenue ahead of the 2010 Winter Games, said Donna Anaka, with the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. The B.C. Culinary Tourism Society aims to have 200 eateries around the province accredited by next spring as part of a broader tourism effort that includes producers and tracing food back to its origins.
"There's increasing interest in knowing where your food comes from," Anaka said. "So culinary tourism is becoming much more important and we're just trying to capitalize on these opportunities."
