How can food tourism experiences make coastal trips more memorable?

Most people travel to the coast for a holiday at the beach. However, an interesting alternative to typical coastal tourism are memorable food experiences. Rather than just eating fish and chips from a takeaway, for example, travelers can gain insight and have lots of fun while finding out how seafood ends up on our plates.

Why experiential tourism beats standard sightseeing

When tourists visit coastal destinations for holidays they generally spend their time at the beaches, have a few dinners at restaurants and return to their hotel where they can rest up for the following day. They can get very bored and turn into uninteresting tourists who are of little interest to locals and who can bring very little back to hotels and restaurants. On the other hand experiences of experiential food tourism can be of great interest and be very memorable to tourists. These Experiences can lead to very memorable holidays and can leave a positive mark on tourists.

Another positive of experiential food tourism is that tourists engaging with local food systems can gain knowledge of people involved in production of food within a coastal region, as well as processes involved in production of food within that region and stories behind production of local food within a coastal region. Moreover, in their research into this subject, psychologists have found that tourists can have ‘peak experiences’ – the most ‘intense’ and ‘meaningful’ experiences of their lives which can be remembered by individuals for the rest of their lives.

Research conducted by Tourism Australia discovered that of all factors that influence destination choice by travelers food experiences rate second only to the natural beauty of a destination. However travelers who participate in food experiences of a region spend on average 25% more and stay on average 2.4 longer than other tourists.

Seafood culture as a gateway to authentic connection

The coastal area of a region is where the land meets the sea and as such there are many areas of food production literally at the mouth of the sea. For generations communities have been established in these coastal areas to take advantage of the bounty of the sea and as such have evolved into sophisticated systems of catching, processing and distributing seafood.

The biggest experience of Food Tourism within coastal regions is the opportunity to learn about seafood culture. When people visit inland locations they generally have very little idea of the hard work, the enormous amount of effort and vast amount of expertise that go into providing fresh market quality seafood to restaurants and food markets across Australia’s entire coastline. Experiencing the fish markets of a city is a vastly different experience for a tourist, than it is for a commercial fisherman, the restaurant buyers and sellers of fresh seafood and the locals who regularly visit the fish markets. Yes there are loads of experiences available within the broad spectrum of seafood culture but essentially there are so many species of seafood and so many methods of food preparation for individual species that it really only starts to make sense when individuals are able to gain individual knowledge of the species they have encountered before in restaurants prior to their experiences within seafood culture. So even though there are many aspects of seafood culture that are very interesting and lots of ways in which these could be experienced by tourists that actually lead to the greatest knowledge of seafood generally are those that allow tourists to gain knowledge of individual species of seafood, be able to see when those species are in season, participate in the auctions where they can see all of the different species of seafood and then be able to observe and gain individual knowledge and understanding of how individual species of seafood are processed and then prepared by chefs in individual restaurants for modern diners. Cultural transmission of food is always very interesting as it is often comprised of the stories of fishers and how they and their families have processed and prepared individual species of seafood for many generations. Individuals who work in processing of seafood can also talk about the individual species of seafood and the reasons behind individual methods of preparation and how those methods have been individually adapted by individual chefs within individual restaurants for modern diners.

Behind-the-scenes access creates understanding

Another key element of creating an unforgettable coastal experience for your clients, is to allow them to see behind the scenes of the seafood industry, and to learn about all the different links in the chain that exist to allow fresh seafood to be picked from the sea and then transported to the plate of the consumer.

Tourists are able to view the latest technology used in processing facilities, cold storage and distribution of seafood. Many also get to see where lobsters are graded and learn about the quality control measures in place to ensure that the food produced is of the highest safety standard through factory tours. Many tourists are also amazed by the organization and skill required to get the freshest seafood from the sea to plate.

The food tourism experience can give travelers insight to the food available within coastal regions of Australia and the cost of fresh produce in order to design cuisines within restaurants. Some of the factors that can affect the types of foods and the cost of foods in coastal regions include the time of year and the weather.

Creating meaningful interactions with producers

The best way for visitors to connect visitors with local food producers is for them to have meaningful interactions and experiences with them behind the scenes of food production where they can assist with processes such as sorting and grading of fish by size, quality checking of fish etc. and learning about sustainable harvesting practices.

So there is a real chance for interactions to take place between tourists and the food producers in these areas. Whether it is helping to sort fish according to size or learning how quality is assessed in relation to a range of criteria, tourists can become aware of all of the skills, knowledge and expertise required to get the best seafood to market. So when they next eat seafood, they will be aware of the many skillful practices that have occurred between the time that the fisherman brought his catch to shore and the time that it was placed in front of them as part of their meal. The producer is willing to explain the challenges that he or she encounters in getting seafood to market and for tourists to learn about the equipment, markets and other factors that can affect a fisherman’s day. The producers take a real pride in their work and in passing down their knowledge, skills and expertise to new generations of a fisherman’s family.

Practical design elements that work

Successful coastal food tourism requires careful orchestration.

When planning food experiences within coastal regions consideration needs to be given to a number of key factors including the processing times of the foods that are featured in the experiences. In many instances the best seafood experiences take place early in the morning when the greatest variety of fresh seafood is available. It is also very important to consider safe access to the food production sites in order to ensure tourists are able to safely participate in the experiences. This may include tourists dressing appropriately, adhering to particular safety requirements, being made aware of areas that are restricted from movement, as well as adherence to health requirements. These are important constraints that can actually add value to the experiences when well managed and communicated to tourists.

Long-term impact on travel patterns

The other really positive point of Food Tourism is that there are return visitors to a destination, but more so to regions within that destination, and to specific producers of food that have given a traveler an experience of Food Tourism while traveling. Because of strong loyalties to regions, places, and people within those places that a traveler has had a very positive experience of food production and especially seafood in coastal regions of Australia, such travelers will return to different parts of the region or to return to specific producers at different times of the year to see the change of season on fish that have migrated, weather, and even market fluctuations on produce. They will recommend experiences of food and places to eat to other travelers not as touristy sites that they can go and take photos at and purchase souvenirs, but as places and people to seek out to gain real insights to food production in coastal regions of Australia and how communities function around that food production.

These types of experiences create repeat travelers to an area and even more so advocates of regions and producers within those areas. Travelers who gain an understanding of the workings of a coastal community for support of their food from the sea will return to an area in different seasons to experience how different production operations change with the seasons, such as with the fish. The result of this type of ‘understanding-based’ tourism is that it will lead to sustainable tourism practices in the long run as opposed to the current ‘extract-based’ tourism where tourists ‘extract’ things of value to take home to others such as souvenirs and photos of local people for other people to look at.