Three quarters of those subscribers of the TG channel “Roof of the Tourist House” who took part in the survey “Do you need domestic products on vacation abroad?” chose the answer “No, I prefer to try local cuisine.”
The survey was timed to coincide with the news that one of the Thai retailers offered to organize shelves with Russian products in their stores in order to attract tourists from our country with their usual food. However, the results of the survey can be interpreted more broadly, and they can justifiably be attributed to trips around Russia: obviously, travelers are interested in “culinary experiments”, they are not averse to trying the gastronomic “chips” of certain regions. There is demand, people are willing to pay to taste authentic dishes, and this opens up space for gastronomic tourism.
However, it is clearly not developed enough in our country yet. There is probably not enough quality supply. Only a few cities can boast restaurants that would adequately represent local “gastronomic brands”. Perhaps an example is the seaside Vladivostok or Murmansk, where there are establishments where you can order dishes from local fish and seafood prepared at a high level. They are trying unsuccessfully to develop gastronomic tourism in Sochi, including in the ski cluster. However, in general, this area still lacks popularization and effective promotion.
There are also objective constraints. First of all, the lack of deep traditions. In Europe, for example, culinary festivals gather thousands of guests who purposefully come to a particular region for such events. We are still far from making it an established practice.
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