Culinary Tourism – An Unexploited Oportunity For Suceava County

Culinary tourism suggests the idea of experiencing other cultures through food. Food and drinks are an equally - if not more - powerful tourism attraction, like museums, historical sites, sports and others. According to the specialists, the cuisine of the destination is an aspect of utmost importance in the quality of the holiday experience. The development of gastronomic tourism contributes to the improvement of the general perception of the destination. Gastronomic tourism applies to tourists and visitors who plan their trips partially or totally in order to taste the cuisine of the place or to carry out activities related to gastronomy. Furthermore, Food Tourism includes in its concept ethical and sustainable values based on the territory, the landscape, the sea, local culture, local products, authenticity, which are the values promoted by the tourism nowadays. Our paper briefly presents the basic concept of gastronomic tourism and develop a study regarding the opinion of tourism agencies from Suceava County regarding the opportunities of the development of this form of tourism and their willing to introduce gastronomic attractions in their tourist packages. The study is the first part of a more complex one which aims to propose a strategy for the development of culinary routes in Suceava County.