Luxury food tour: Perspectives and dilemmas on the "luxurification" of local culture in tourism product

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3986/AGS.8960

Keywords:

experiential tourism, luxury tourism products, gastronomy, local culture, heritage, Kras/Carso Food Tour, Karst region

Abstract

This paper focuses on the Kras/Carso Food Tour to present the challenges of developing a luxury tourism product. The tour's design followed the current strategy of the Slovenian Tourist Board, which defines specific criteria for a luxury experience. Contextualized by the experiential trends in tourism, the paper juxtaposes the bottom-up and top-down perspectives on luxury experiences. The authors argue that mediation by experts familiar with academic discourses and local culture is beneficial for the development of a successful tourism product. The study contributes to the debates on luxury tourism, which have neglected bottom-up perceptions in tourist discourse and overlooked the dilemmas people face when "luxurifying" their traditions and heritage practices.

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Published

28-07-2021

How to Cite

Poljak Istenič, S., & Fakin Bajec, J. (2021). Luxury food tour: Perspectives and dilemmas on the "luxurification" of local culture in tourism product. Acta Geographica Slovenica, 61(1), 169–184. https://doi.org/10.3986/AGS.8960

Issue

Section

Special issue: Gastronomy, territory and tourism