Food tourism is recognized as a unique form of tourism product that combines traditions and regional characteristics and has become an international trend. However, research on food tourism in Korea is limited. Thus, this study investigated the selection attributes of food tourism in Italy, France and Japan. A qualitative study was conducted among 34 foreign food tourism experts on food tourism in their respective countries to find possible directions for Korean food tourism. As a result of this study, ‘Food attraction’, ‘Traditionality’, ‘Locality’, ‘Convenience’, ‘Cultural Characteristics’, and ‘Appropriateness of price’ were the attributes identified from the expert’s comments. Marketing strategies such as improving quality of service and food itself, quality of service, developing diverse food tourism product, and building marketing channel will improve the status of food tourism in Korea.

The objective of this study was to review and evaluate the growing subject of food tourism research, and thus identify the trend of food tourism research. Using a Text mining technique, this paper discovered the trends of the literature on food tourism that was published from 2004 to 2018. The study reviewed 201 articles that include the words ‘food’ and ‘tourism’ in their abstracts in the KCI database. The Wordscloud analysis results presented that the research subjects were predominantly ‘Festival’, ‘Region’, ‘Culture’, ‘Tourist’, but there was a slight difference in frequency according to the time period. Based on the main path analysis, we extracted the meaningful paths between the cited references published domestically, resulting in a total of 12 networks from 2004 to 2018. The Text network analysis indicated that the words with high centrality showed similarities and differences in the food tourism literature according to the time period, displaying them in a sociogram, a visualization tool. This study has implications that it offers a new perspective of comprehending the overall flow of relevant research.

This study aimed to develop unique, local “food tourism” products by finding specialized items that combine tourist attractions, such as folklore or hot springs. Traditional ingredients were analyzed with ancient texts for the methods of research. A brand image was made possible utilizing hot spring lore and other regional stories. The tofu products were produced using local specialty beans. Products, such as tofu residue cake and willow bean tea, were made with the tofu residue. After the products were completed, the sensory test began at the local tourist attraction. Asan City’s food tourism product willow tofu was made with beans that were given as compensation for building the Onyang temporary palace according to the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty and the willow tree that appears in Sunshin Lee’s anecdotes. After the preference test between normal tofu and willow-extract tofu was conducted to measure the product potential of willow tofu, among the sample extracts, 0.04% of the willow extract showed a significant preference. The hot spring tofu-residue cake was baked using tofu residue and vegetable olive oil to substitute for animal oil, such as butter, or margarine. After the sensory test targeting the adults was conducted, both products displayed significant product potential with average scores above 5.0. Willow tree bark, which hasantioxidation and anti-inflammatory effects without a bitter taste or strong smell, was proven to bean appropriate ingredient for leached tea. The nutty flavor of leached tea was enhanced by roasted green kernel black beans and willow tree bark. The sensory test showed that the leached tea and tofu received a high preference rating on both color and flavor.

A travel destination offers a form of novelty to the traveler since it can provide experiences that are not of the everyday variety. Therefore, a search for novelty is important as a motivation factor when planning leisure trips and vacation activities and to identify travel market segments. This study aimed to examine the differences in demographic characteristics, travel style, and preferred food-related activities in accordance with the level of tourists’ novelty seeking. This study investigated potential tourists using a self-administered questionnaire survey, which resulted in 300 usable questionnaires. The respondents of this study were classified into two groups according to their level of novelty seeking: Active novelty-seeking group and Passive novelty-seeking group. These two groups were significantly different with respect to demographic characteristics, travel style, and preference of food-related-activity experience. The results show that the Active noveltyseeking group tended to have a higher proportion of females and specialized jobs, a higher level of monthly income and education, more frequent travel, and preference for food-related activity experience than other groups. The result of this study will be helpful for the tourist industry, which needs to develop culinary and food-related experience tour programs and travel market segments.

The purpose of this study was to categorize and comparatively analyze tourists of different life-style groups who visit Yesan according to their lifestyles as well as their consumption behaviors and attitudes towards local foods or specialty agricultural products in order to understand the various needs, attitudes, and behaviors of consumers in each life-style group. Group 1 had a high percentage of single people in their 20s and those who worked in technology. Group 2 had a high percentage of those in their 30s and 40s who were married and were professionals. Group 3 had a high percentage of men and those in their 40s and 50s, as well as a high percentage of high income, highly educated people. Group 4 had a high percentage of those in their 20s or those in their 60s or higher. Compared to other groups, group 4 had a larger percentage of lower income and less educated people. In verifying the difference between life-style groups in terms of their behaviors and attitudes toward local foods and specialty agricultural products, consumption and experience of regional specialty foods showed high average scores in groups 1, 2, and 3, with significant differences from group 4.

The purpose of this research was to reveal how Jong Ga and its cuisine is perceived by Koreans and foreign tourists and to develop Jong Ga culinary culture for culinary tourism. The Inje Jong Ga was chosen since it is located in Jeonju, Hanok Village, which is a destination for tourists and gourmet enthusiasts. In-depth personal interviews were performed with Koreans and with foreign tourists who were visiting Korea. Interviews were done to provide deeper insight into the comments and subject matters. Most tourists selected "having one table setting for each (Doksang)" as the most distinctive part of Jong Ga and its cuisine. To develop the experience at a Jong Ga as a culinary destination, questionnaires were created to study six areas: preferences on length of stay, price range, food serving style, things to be improved, expectations by as a tourist at a Jong Ga, and the role of the food guide. Perceptions toward Jong Ga and its cuisine were generally positive, but the quality of service and lack of organization in establishments were perceived to be the negative factors.

농촌진흥 전략, 농촌발전 전략, 농민의 자체적 발전, 풍부한 농촌의 음식자원과 방대한 관광객 시장, 다양한 농촌관광 수요 등의 요인의 작용 하에 중국 농촌 음식관광은 점차 발전하면서 관광촌, 특색마을, 음식축제 등 세 가지 발전의 모델을 갖게 되었다. 그러나 중국 농촌 음식관광의 발전은 정책 및 관리, 관광객 시장, 문화적 함의의 결여, 부족한 브랜드 의식 등의 문제에 의한 제약을 받고 있다. 이러한 문제를 해결하기 위하여 중국 농촌 음식관광의 발전은 시장의 수요 및 농촌관광 발전 추세에 부응한다는 전제 하에 계획적 지도와 부처 간 협력，정책적 지원과 제도 개선，건전한 농촌 음식관광 관련 법체계 구축，음식관광 관련 인재 육성 강화，지역 간 연동과 차별화된 발전，관광객 시장 개척과 브랜드 구축，문화와의 융합을 통한 내부 소양의 발전，요리 교육 등의 조치를 취하여야 한다.

음식은 세계인이 공유하는 공통의 언어이다. 최근 지구촌의 각 문화권이 보유하고 있는 독특한 음식문화의 가치는 관광을 통해 재발견되고 있다. 음식은 유.무형의 관광 상품과 서비스의 가장 중요한 요소이면서, 관광지의 이미지를 강화시킬 수 있는 핵심적인 요소이기 때문이다. 더 나아가 ‘음식’ 자체가 관광활동의 직접적인 동기가 되고 있고, 관광 활동의 한 부분을 차지하면서 문화, 역사, 관광지의 특성이 음식과 융화되어 특정지역이나 민족의 독특한 음식을 먹기 위한 미식관광(gastronomic tourism)이 점차 활성화되고 있다. 본 연구의 목적을 달성하기 위해 미식관광을 경험하거나 계획 중인 미식 관광객을 대상으로 설문조사를 하였으며, 총 300부의 연구 설문지 중 84부의 불성실한 답변 설문지를 제외한 216부의 설문지를 최종분석에 활용하였다. 분석에는 SPSS 23.0을 이용하여 신뢰도 분석, 요인분석, 상관관계 분석, 선형회귀분석을 하였으며 분석결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 미식관여도의 미식관광동기에 유의한 영향을 미치고 둘째, 미식관여도는 만족과 추천의도에 유의한 영향관계를 형성하였으며 셋째, 미식관광동기와 만족·추천의도 간에 유의한 영향관계를 형성하였다. 따라서 본 연구의 모든 가설은 채택되었고 미식관여도와 미식관광 속에서 미식의 중요성에 대한 관심과 방향성에 대한 실무적 시사점 또한 제공하였다.