Flying Gourmet Coffee History Cape Wines Culinary News Gas Cooking The Granary Moroccan Menu Toronto Airport Restaurants Catering Cara Story Links to come Health Doctors/Borders Flying Hospital				The Flying Gourmet looks at the latest Culinary News CULINARY TOURISM WHITE PAPER RELEASED: The first white paper ever published to address the strategic issues regarding the "culinary tourism" niche market is now available for download at www.culinarytourism.org. The paper, entitled, "Culinary Tourism: A Tasty Economic Proposition," was written by Erik Wolf, a destination marketing consultant with 15 years' experience in the travel industry. The white paper begins with a general overview of culinary tourism and why food, beverage and travel industry professionals need to pay attention to it. A brief outline of the agricultural "roots" of culinary tourism is followed by a realistic discussion of the economic potential of the niche. Examples from Australia and California's Napa Valley are cited. As Wolf examines the typical profile of culinary tourists, he highlights what makes culinary tourists interesting - they are explorers. The paper is not an implementation plan for a culinary tourism strategy, and Wolf only briefly canvasses the various types of culinary tourism. Instead, he goes into detail regarding the litany of benefits that culinary tourism offers food/beverage providers, the travel industry, residents, communities, and of course, tourists. The paper concludes by acknowledging several issues that may hamper culinary tourism development, and he predicts the future of the culinary tourism niche. Culinary tourism is important for many reasons. According to the U.S. National Restaurant Association, the Travel Industry Association of America and the Canadian Tourism Commission, dining out is one of the most popular tourist activities. Consider that nearly 100% of tourists dine out while traveling and the message starts to sink in. Even culinary tourists cannot eat constantly. Tourists who are interested in wine/cuisine also show an affinity for museums, theater, shopping, music, film festivals and outdoor recreation. Business owners will appreciate the fact that the higher the total dinner bill, the more likely the patrons are tourists. The concept of culinary tourism is as old as time. Thousands of years ago, merchants traveled the Seven Seas, looking for foodstuffs to trade. Spices, wine, fruits and olive oil were the currencies of yore. Today, we unwittingly do much the same. However, modern travelers tend to prefer restaurants and wineries in place of battered ships traversing pirate-infested trade routes.   ....Our Flying Gourmet continues with a feature on ... Airline food and one of Canada's original caterers.   . More on food from GourmetSpot (www.gourmetspot.com). The site includes recipes for foods and beverages, restaurant guides and information about the various tools used in the kitchen.