《On the Trail of Food and Wine》.pdf

498 • o thE trAiL oF Food And Wi E On the Trail of Food and Wine: The tourist search for meaningful experience Robb Mason Barry O’Mahony, Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research, Victoria University, Melbourne AbstrAct • the purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify important factors in the development of food and wine trails within the context of culinary tourism and, second, to propose methods by which trail businesses can further build on the tourism potential of food and wine. the trail development factors identified are the trail as a tourist product, the relevance of alternative food networks, and the identity of the culinary tourist. the research to date suggests that a difficulty facing trail developers is the problem of incorporating a tourism product into what is essentially a cooperative marketing mechanism. this sig- nals a need to develop mechanisms by which the food and wine tourism product of a trail can be better presented. the paper thus concludes with suggestions for ways in which trail businesses can construct narratives in order to improve ‘meaningful experiences’ for contemporary culinary tourists. Key words: food and wine trails, networks, identity, experience, narrative, tour- ism potential Introduction There are many contentious issues in contemporary tourism (Hall Tucker, 2004; Mowforth Munt, 2002; Wahab Pigram, 1997). What is usually considered uncontroversial is that tourism is a contributor to the economic vitality of nations and places, an important dynamic given the increasing vola- tility and risk confronting regional economies (Beer, 2000; Cocklin Dibden, 2004). Making tourism work is not always easy. Nevertheless, diverse strate- gies to promote tourism continue to be developed in rural Australia, often as a hedge against economic uncertainty. Food and wine trails are numbered o thE trAiL oF Food And Wi