Tourism Studies on the Mediterranean Region (Vol.3) "Evolving the perspectives on the value of gastronomy for Mediterranean destination development"

Gastronomy has always been closely linked with tourism. Travellers at first re-garded food on holiday as a necessity and a secondary element of regional cul-ture to enjoy during culinary experiences at restaurants (Hall and Mitchell, 2001; Quan and Wang, 2004). With the expansion of global travel, gastronomy became a significant asset to attract tourists to specific destinations and offer them en-gaging, novel and memorable experiences (Richards, 2021). Gastronomy tour-ism, therefore, gained increasing attention within the academia (Hjalager and Richards, 2002; Ellis et al., 2018) and among tourism suppliers, food producers and policymakers (OECD, 2012; UNWTO, 2012). The growing interest from trav-ellers – boosted since 2010 – led to an increasing sophistication of the gastro-nomic practice. New proposals and attractions appeared in the market, changing the way of experiencing local gastronomy, which was limited to purchasing food, tastings and visits to local producers (Garibaldi, 2017; Richards, 2021). Today, gastronomy tourism encompasses a variety of experiences that deal with pleas-ure (Therkelsen, 2015), socialisation (Fernandes, 2021), involvement (Garibaldi, 2021), and learning (Ignatov and Smith, 2006). They allow travellers to gain knowledge of the cultural, social, and economic practices related to the produc-tion and consumption of food and, definitively, to get a sense of the place and the society. We should consider gastronomy tourism a more varied and dynamic set of experiences based on the place's unique (food and non-food) aspects con-tinuously evolving through the interactions between the travellers and the local community. In the last three years, the tourist's consumption has changed. The COVID-19 pandemic, the changed geopolitical context, the inflationary pressure and the higher cost of living have led consumers to adapt their holiday plans and seek new travel options (Booking.com, 2022; American Express Travel, 2023; Ernst and Young, 2023). Gastronomic proposals are still among the preferred experi-ences while travelling. For example, enjoying natural/rural landscapes and gas-tronomic experiences are the two most preferred activities by European tourists for their holidays between June and November 2023 (European Travel Commis-sion, 2023). Given the current (and evolving) evolving scenario, where does the future of gas-tronomy tourism lie? By reviewing the academic literature and market studies (see Garibaldi, 2023a), we can identify four major driving forces that will shape the discourses of this practice.