MANAGEMENT

Case Study of Food Festival

"Taste of London" Food Festival 2012

Introduction

The taste of London food festival 2012 was when many loving gourmets are presented in London's Regent Park to celebrate the finest of the cuisines at Taste of London restaurant. The festival had started nine years ago when it lines up world's best chefs in the restaurants. The restaurant has clearly established itself as a high status and world's greatest food festival restaurant. The rationale of this food festival is that it includes forty British and International restaurants who served inspiring dishes to visitors. The event was for a total of four days and aims to inspire the taste buds of many who are excited to be a part of the festival. In the year 2012, new feature was added which was the Flavours of the world. This was mainly addition of international flavours from five places like Peru, Flanders, Brazil, Germany and Malaysia. Taste of Thailand which was a strikingly great taste brought to Central London which was a mix of Thai food, drinks, culture and entertainment. The visitors had a great time in enjoying various foods like the Weber BBQ Experience and championships for Amateur Chefs also gained great popularity. This paper will demonstrate the relationship between Food Festival held in London and its impact on the Tourism industry.

Literature Review

There are very few destinations that can be marked as food tourism destinations; however, some places have the potential to increase their role in improving tourism and development. The London festival case shows that there is potential and food can be used as a tool to achieve high tourism in given time periods. This paper is formulated after analyzing tourism sites in London and the marketing employed on the Internet and brochures reveal show the success of the campaign. The promotional methods used and attraction for the tourists. In recent years food has gained great importance as a business venture by the governments and other stakeholders of the industry as an important part of the tourism (Hall, 2006). Many individuals only travel to taste the food available in a particular region and thus, London Food festival has immense benefits for the country. The food festival is a vital element that can increase the sense of place and heighten the appeal of a particular destination (Jones, 2008). The Taste of London food festival prompted many tourists to stay longer in one place because of the availability of food products and related activities. The festival prompts additional sales for food producers and tourism related spending which stimulates local economies.

Food is a vital element for the overall tourist spends (Wolf, 2006) and research in the matter states that 100% of the tourists eat out while they travel and most of their spending is composed of food and drinks. In London, dining out is a very important activity as more than 40% of the International visitors were found to do that (Statistics London 2007). Similarly, in other countries there was a considerable amount of spending ...