21.06.2024: Food tourism is currently on the rise. According to Future Market Insights Inc. (2022), the annual growth rate of the food tourism market is estimated at 16.6% during the period of 2022 to 2032. This reflects a high demand for food tourism in the upcoming years. However, a higher demand means an increase in the negative impacts of food tourism too. Destination management and marketing organisations (DMOs) and other destination stakeholders in the food tourism industry are expected to understand the importance of sustainability. This is necessary to maximise the benefits of food tourism and to mitigate its negative impact. Still, there is some confusion about what food tourism really is and how other stakeholders can get involved. Hence, this article focuses on different tips DMOs can apply to foster sustainable food tourism  (Brynja Laxdal et al., 2022).

30.08.2023: Food tourism is a rapidly expanding industry with an estimated 39 million travellers choosing their destination based on their food and beverage choices, according to the World Food Travel Association (WFTA, 2021). The amount of food waste produced by the tourism sector is enormous. A lot of food is wasted in our daily operations, from uneaten sandwiches to tiny muffins. According to the United Nations (2019) about one-third of the food produced worldwide is wasted, which has detrimental effects on the environment, the economy, and society. In this article, ten practical ways in which destination marketing organisations (DMOs) can work towards reducing food waste at their destinations are introduced.

22.11.2022: As food tourism is on the rise, it is important that food tourists adjust their behaviour towards the people, economy and environment during their holidays. The growth of food tourism has positive impacts on the people and its economy. Unfortunately, there are also negative impacts, such as the risk of losing cultural identity, increased volume of waste and the overall price increase of goods and services. The good news is that, there are several ways how food tourists can be more sustainable and contribute to the protection of the people, economy and environment. This will help food tourists to enjoy their trip and leave with the confidence that the food destination will not be damaged by their presence. In the following you can find ten top tips on how food tourists can behave more sustainably during their trip (United Nations, 2022).

27.09.2022: Every year on September 27^th the World Tourism Day is celebrated. The day was established in 1980 by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Its purpose is to promote the value of tourism (BMUV, 2022). Every year the day has a new theme. This year it is ‘Rethinking Tourism’, referring to the still lasting crisis. Restarting the tourism industry is certainly challenging. However, it actually presents a great opportunity for improving tourism and making it more sustainable (Pratama, 2022). Tourism can have a big negative impact on the environment. This reaches from pollution and erosions to endangered species and overall, an enormous ecological footprint (The World Counts, n.d.).

13.09.2022: We are excited to share that FTM is collaborating with the students of the Tourism Management Bachelor study programme at NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. In their Tourism Research Project module, students work together with businesses from the industry. In this project, Food Tourism Development Guidelines will be developed to solve the problem of mismanaged (food) tourism destinations.

30.08.2022: When going on holidays, tourists often seek a dining experience, that is as authentic to the region as possible. Especially in tourist hotspots, often that is not the case. Consequently, some tourists leave the place disappointed and upset. In order to change this, designing authentic food tourism is crucial to create an atmosphere in which tourists feel like they are part of the culture and history of the place.

07.06.2022: In order to promote the Wadden Sea Area as a World Heritage site, Stichting Waddengroep (the foundation of the Wadden Sea) wants to enhance food tourism in the region. As the Wadden Sea Area is stretched over the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, it is difficult to develop food tourism in a sustainable way.

10.05.2022: Yesterday was National Foodies Day in the US which is celebrated every year on May 9th. Obviously, at FTM we were celebrating that day in particular. The National Foodies Day was invented in 2017 by Lori Brown and Kevin Godbee, two Americans from Florida who are co-founders and editors of the St. Petersburg Foodies web portal. The original purpose of the day was to bring foodies and gastro fans together. But who is actually a foodie? Everybody who loves food?

01.03.2022: Finally, today is the day I have been waiting for – I am officially opening my own business. I warmly welcome you to the website of Food Tourism Management (FTM). I am Laureen Rashof, born in Dortmund, raised in Schwerte and currently living in Düsseldorf, Germany. In-between I was studying and working in Portugal, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Canada and Argentina. To understand how it all started and why you should reach out to FTM when it comes to food tourism, let me introduce you to my journey.