Gastronomy tourism as a marketing strategy for place branding

Abstract

The chapter aims to present key information that gastronomy tourism marketers and destination management officials might consider when formulating place branding strategies and effective marketing differentiation. Although gastronomy tourism is accepted as an important and emerging sector of cultural tourism, research of gastronomy tourism as a marketing instrument to build place brand equity is scarce. The author covers a brand value-driven approach to explain how gastronomy is a critical marketing tool to create memorable experience and place brand equity dimensions. The author presents a discussion of the current research in gastronomy tourism, the role of gastronomy tourism on place branding, the relationship between gastronomy and tourism experiences, gastronomy tourism place brand equity and the role of destination management organizations (DMOs).