San Sebastian (TAN): Around 500 participants from 90 countries attended the fifth UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism in this Spanish city on May 2 and 3.
Hosted by the Basque Culinary Center (BCC), this year’s event focussed on the contribution of food tourism to job creation and to the promotion of entrepreneurship.
The UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism has been held since 2015, addressing the key issues advancing this specific tourism area and its benefits for destinations and communities. Organized by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Basque Culinary Center, the event is hosted every two years in San Sebastián. In 2016 and 2018, it was held in Peru and Thailand respectively.
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The food tourism forum was created with the aim of promoting the exchange of experiences between experts in tourism and gastronomy, to identify good practices and to promote gastronomy tourism as a factor of development of countries, an UNWTO release said.
Speaking at the event, UNWTO secretary-general, Zurab Pololikashvili said: “Gastronomy tourism is an opportunity to promote local economic growth and fight against depopulation. It is a means to include many layers of society in development. The broad spectrum of gastronomy tourism makes it an ally for social inclusion. It has a particular potential to economically empower the most vulnerable groups, such as women, youth, indigenous and rural communities.”
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Basque Culinary Center director Joxe Mari Aizega underscored the importance of adequately training professionals and developing the necessary skills, as well as attracting and retaining talent. He said: “Gastronomy has become a strategic sector for many countries, contributing to the generation of wealth and employment, creating value along all its levels, and promoting countries and destinations.”
The sixth UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism will take place Bruges, Belgium from June 1-3, 2020.
