Matens roll i reseupplevelsen

: En intervjustudie med sex nyckelaktörer i turismnäringen

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how key stakeholders see food as a part of the tourist industry and how they work with food experiences in practice. Data collection was collected by semi-structured interviews which were transcribed and analyzed within the model of processing a qualitative text. The stakeholders which participated were Landsbygdsdepartementet, Visit Sweden, Regional Matkultur Småland, Smaka på Skåne, Kristianstad Kommun and Idala gård. The interviewed stakeholders are working with food tourism at national, regional and local level. The results showed that all the participants thought food had a specific role within the tourist industry. In this study, it became clear that the respondents emphasized the importance for producers to see the potential food have to become a food experience and at the same time to make it more visible for tourists. A reason for this would be the view of Swedish food culture that the respondents think Swedish people have. It is important to see the unique assets which are available and to be proud of the culture.  It also shows that food experiences have a more obvious role in tourist industry, both as the main reason or as part of the travel. The advantage of the food experiences in relation to other experiences is the use of all the senses, thus providing a total tourism experience.