Learning to face global food challenges through tourism experiences

• Main Authors: Giovanna Bertella, Benjamin Vidmar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Emerald Publishing 2019-09-01
• Series: Journal of Tourism Futures
• Subjects: sustainability; food tourism; sustainable development goals; ecopreneurship; educational tourism; transformative experiences
• Online Access: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JTF-01-2019-0004/full/pdf?title=learning-to-face-global-food-challenges-through-tourism-experiences

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provoke reflections on the potential contribution of food tourism experiences to achieving the sustainable development goals for eradicating hunger and malnutrition. Design/methodology/approach - In line with the creative analytic practice in scientific inquiry, this study develops and discusses a futuristic scenario inspired by a factual company. The case is based on ideas derived from studies on educational and food tourism and entrepreneurship, more precisely ecopreneurship. Findings - Food tourism can offer an opportunity for discussing food challenges in the context of ideas and projects to alleviate hunger and malnutrition. This study shows that imagining such possibilities and projects is challenging because of the complexity of the issue. Practical implications - This study suggests that despite some limitations, educational food tourism experiences might go well beyond the issues of regional development, localism and authenticity. Practitioners, including tourism entrepreneurs and private and public food and tourism organisations, might be essential to exploring alternative food tourism futures in ways that truly contribute to urgent global challenges. Originality/value - The value of this paper lies in the use of a scenario to imagine and to reflect on the future of food tourism in relation to the global challenges of hunger and malnutrition. The paper suggests that the ideas from tourism studies and ecopreneurship can offer interesting perspectives on future developments in the sector.