Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and assess the main food products that can influence culinary tourism branding in Poland. Moreover, the purpose of the research is to explore familiarity with Poland's cuisine, first associations with Poland and its brand, attractiveness of Polish cuisine and identifying interest in culinary tourism overall. Most importantly, the survey indicates if visitors are interested in visiting Poland for the primary purpose of experiencing Poland's gastronomic tourism options. Design/methodology/approach: To further understand and support secondary research regarding the topic of culinary tourism, a survey was launched on google forms and posted to several mediums to collect responses. These channels include AmazonMTurk, Facebook, and personal networking. In order to gain insight into Poland's attractiveness as a gastronomic tourism destination, survey results were collected from 123 individuals. These individuals were from various different foreign countries, the majority from the United States of America. Findings: The survey begins with assessing and exploring associations with culture and cuisine, cuisine and the creation of memorable experiences, intentions to seek out culinary experiences and motivations for culinary tourism. Americans would be highly interested in visiting Poland because of variety of Polish cuisine. The most important flagship products were pierogi and kiełbasa. They are perceived as typical Polish food offer, that could also be an introduction to vast majority of other Polish authentic, tasty culinary achievements and rich gastronomic heritage. This kind of content should be included to tourism strategy on national level, to increase competitive advantage of Poland as tourist destination. According to research results, it would be even better to develop a culinary tourism strategy that would present content to people on the 25-55 age, with a promise of offering memorable culinary tourism experiences presented in attractive digital form. Special emphasize should be given to promotion of Wine, Beer and other alcoholic beverages. Intentional tourist know that tourist form from Spain, Italy, France or Czechia, but Polish growing wine market, very attractive craft beer market or mature spirits market could be an interesting surprise for demanding culinary tourists. Research limitations/implications: The population sample was limited to 123 responses. Moreover, this study does not take into account the potential and very serious negative effects of tourism on a destination. The research was carried out before the war in Ukraine. This aspect should be taken under consideration in the future research on branding of Poland. Practical and social implications: Recommendations are made for Poland's tourism strategy based on the literature review and results of the research and can be helpful in implementing a culinary tourism strategy in the future. The theoretical and practical application of the research can be used to help Poland in developing a culinary tourism strategy and further understanding of culinary tourists and their motivations to visit Poland as a destination. Originality/value: This research adds value to Poland's tourism strategy and emphasizes the impact of culinary tourism on Poland's brand and image. The research results help to define Polish food flagship products to increase popularity of Poland among gastronomic tourists. Recommendations show activities, recommended by respondents, helping to increase the attractiveness of Polish gastronomic tourism based on both food and beverages heritage.(original abstract)
JavaScript jest wyłączony w Twojej przeglądarce internetowej. Włącz go, a następnie odśwież stronę, aby móc w pełni z niej korzystać.