Culinary Tourism Packages and Regional Brands in Czechia

Abstract

The paper discusses the ‘Regional Brand’ initiative as the regional quality certification with potential to build links with viable rural tourism products. This branding system is explained in the context of a multi-functional paradigm in the development of viable rural economies. A questionnaire survey of certified producers conducted for the first part of the research within this paper revealed mainly a strong awareness of the regional branding system, however, with underused further potential. In the second phase of the research, a qualitative study was conducted in the model region of Vysočina, Czechia, and the results of semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs in culinary tourism about their involvement in the creation of tourist packages and their cooperation with regional brands were analyzed. The conclusion stresses the need for a significantly more effective interconnecting body at the regional level with the capability of creating fertile links between rural tourism and regional products.

Key Words:

• Czechia
• rural tourism
• regional products
• regional brands
• tourism packages
• culinary tourism

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Czech Science Foundation's project no. 404/12/0470 ‘Geography of alternative food networks and sustainable consumption’ and project no. 403/09/1491 ‘The significance of tourist function of settlements and municipalities in the process of formation of regional identity and identity of regions in CR.’