GASTRONOMIC HERITAGE: A CONTRIBUTOR TO SUSTAINABLE LOCAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Gastronomic heritage is undergoing significant developments, creating a need for competitive strategies to develop food tourism in certain regions. The research explores food culture and tourism in three case studies of Latvia, Romania, and Italy. The article focuses on the information about gastronomic heritage that food lovers request, and the critical components required at a destination for food tourism to flourish. A survey of people involved in gastronomic tourism (151 in Romania, 112 in Italy, 126 in Latvia) using a simple random sample. Based primarily on respondent observations, descriptive and qualitative analysis and nonparametric method are used to explain the phenomenon. SPSS software (26 version) was used to analyze the statistical data. The findings show that people need of information and a new kind of interaction between tourist/consumers and home producers that they can trust. Many of the information are hidden and there is a lack of voice about the gastronomic heritage specially on home producers. The promotion of home producers could be successful if emphasis is placed on attracting tourists and on their visits to home producers, as well as on attracting tourists from abroad. In different countries does not actively promote the opportunity to experience at home producers. A digital food resource and the role of home-organized markets is encouraged in destinations that is promoted to focus the lens on the gastronomic heritage and all its experiences.