Research Proposal

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Topic................................................................................................................................................3
Aim & Objectives............................................................................................................................3
Research Questions..........................................................................................................................3
Rationale..........................................................................................................................................3
Methodology....................................................................................................................................5
Literature Review............................................................................................................................7
Theme 1: Concept of Food Tourism and its destinations............................................................7
Theme 2: Popularity of Food tourism and key criteria to establish successful Food Tourism
Destination...................................................................................................................................8
Theme 3: Challenges raised in making a city a number one culinary destination......................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

Topic
To investigate the growing popularity of Food Tourism and also analyse the key criteria
that constitutes a successful Food Tourism Destination. A study on Birmingham (West
Midlands).
Aim & Objectives
Aim: To analyse the growing popularity of Food tourism in Birmingham (West Midlands) by
analysing the major criteria which helps in making a Food Tourism Destination successful.
Objectives:
 To evaluate the concept of Food tourism and its successful destinations.
 To identify the Food Tourism’s growing popularity in Birmingham and assess the key
criteria to make this a number one culinary destination in UK (outside London).
 To ascertain the challenges that can arise in making the Birmingham a successful Food
Tourism destination in order to meet growing popularity of Food Tourism in UK.
 To recommend various strategies which can help the Birmingham to meet up the
challenges to make it a successful Food Tourism destination.
Research Questions
 What is Food tourism and its various successful destinations in UK?
 How can the Food Tourism’s growing popularity in Birmingham be identified and what
is the key criteria to make it a culinary destination in UK?
 What are the challenges that can arise in making the Birmingham a successful Food
Tourism destination in order to meet its growing popularity of Food Tourism in UK?
 What strategies can be recommended which can help the Birmingham to meet up the
challenges to make it successful Food Tourism destination?
Rationale
The main reason behind choosing the current topic i.e., to evaluate the growing popularity of
Food Tourism is that the demand for Food Tourism is increasing day by day and Birmingham
feels the needs to establish as a culinary destination in UK. The number of travellers are planning
3

the trips which are centred on taste-inspired exploration and also seeks to immerse in the local
culture. The competition is increasing rapidly as there are many other cities in UK which are
endorsed for food like Padstow, Ludlow, Leeds and many more (de Jong and Varley, 2017). In
order to compete among these cities, the need to evaluate the popularity of Food Tourism in UK
is identified.
The another reason behind choosing the another part of the topic i.e., to assess the key criteria
which constitutes the successful Food Tourism destination is that in order to make Birmingham a
culinary destination, it has to attract large number of tourists which can contribute to its rapid
progress (PEDRO and FU, 2020).
The reason to choose the culinary tourism is that the modern society is becoming more
globalised which means that the product and the services are getting replicated quickly in every
corner of the country. So, Food tourism is becoming the specific defining characteristic which
adds value to the identity of the country and the cities within it (Everett, 2019).
Birmingham, in order to establish itself as a culinary destination in UK it needs to evaluate the
popularity of the food tourism in the country and the demands of the tourists which must be
fulfilled for competing with the other cities in Western Midland. The Food tourism and culture is
becoming the leading hook in the travel which is driving the consumer behaviour significantly.
Birmingham needs to be part of destination strategies which can offer holistic experience to the
customers. It also needs to look for innovation without losing the essence of the region. The city
also has to offer and promote the local products which can add much value to the identity of
region (Ellis and et.al., 2018).
This proposal will help the researcher to get a deep insight about the Food tourism and its
popularity in UK. It will also help by mentioning the various destinations among with the city
Birmingham has to compete with in order to acquire the position and attract large number of
tourists. This will also help the various shareholders who invest in the food tourism as the
proposal will create a sense of trust in the culinary destinations which will help in the process of
funding (Garibaldi and Pozzi, 2018).
This will also help the other researchers who wish to study about the topic i.e., popularity of food
tourism and the key criteria to measure the success of food tourism destinations (Rachão and
et.al., 2019). It will also prove to be beneficial for the other cities who wish to be established as
culinary destinations. This will majorly help the Birmingham city as it will help by evaluating
4