When is food worth a trip? A study of culinary tourism in Sweden

Culinary tourism in Sweden has increased significantly during the last years as a result of a renewed interest in gastronomy, food and meals. The purpose with the suggested project is to increase the understanding of the development of culinary tourism in Sweden. The project is conducted with professor Karin M Ekström, Högskolan Borås

Culinary tourism in Sweden has increased significantly during the last years as a result of a renewed interest in gastronomy, food and meals. Despite this success during the last years, Sweden is far behind the leading countries in culinary tourism. The purpose with the suggested project is to increase the understanding of the development of culinary tourism in Sweden. We want to study the conditions, possibilities and challenges for actors in culinary tourism in Sweden by studying two regions of Sweden (Sjuhäradsbygden and its surroundings and Skåne). By studying entrepreneurs in these geographical areas and their relation to and interactions with development organizations and final users, we want to study if and how the entrepreneurs work and their everyday reality can be tied together with work on regional and local development as well as consumers desire for food experiences and identity creation that leads to a reciprocal reinforcement of the actors want and needs. The results will be used to development of culinary tourism and marketing of Sweden and the regions we study as culinary tourism attractions. It will give new perspectives on the transformation of Sweden from an industrial economy to experience oriented service economy and increase the understanding of the role of food and meals in this transformation.