Agency Operations: Culinary Tourism Report - TOUR 10015 Project

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of establishing a culinary tourism agency, focusing on the Ontario market. The report begins with an introduction to culinary tourism, defining its core principles and highlighting the potential for adventurous eating experiences. It then identifies young tourists as a suitable niche market, emphasizing their free time and preference for social media. The agency's organizational structure is discussed, with a recommendation to join the Canadian Tourism Industry Association for strategic partnerships and global market access. The report details a promotion strategy centered on Facebook, due to its cost-effectiveness and reach within the target demographic. It also outlines the necessary knowledge and skills for employees, including leadership, communication, and food safety expertise. Furthermore, the role of technology, particularly digital marketing and record-keeping, is examined. The report concludes by reiterating the profitability of culinary tourism and the importance of critical analysis in business development, recommending further exploration of the topic. The report follows the assignment brief and adheres to the provided structure.

Running head: CULINARY TOURISM 1
Culinary Tourism
Prepared for: Marian Vanderwoude
Prepared by: List all students and student numbers
Date: Current Date

CULINARY TOURISM 2
Culinary Tourism
Introduction
Culinary tourism refers to the act of traveling beyond one's immediate neighborhood
fundamentally to find great food. Some of the operations incorporated in culinary tourism
include learning, appreciating, consuming and indulging in foods and drinks that reflect the
heritage, culture and local cuisine of a particular place. Usually, the further an individual travel,
the higher the likelihood of engaging in a wider range of culinary experience. Fundamentally,
culinary tourism circumnavigates eating adventurously rather than dining luxuriously. Therefore,
this paper is set to apply industry theories to explore culinary tourism as our choice of a venture
in Ontario.
Niche Market
Usually, a niche market is a subset of a large market with specific needs and preferences.
Following our focus on culinary tourism, young tourists are the most suitable niche market
group. Young tourists have proven to be a potential market segment for culinary tourism.
According to the travel profile, students are on the upfront in smoking holiday trips as opposed
to the working class. The students mark the larger percentage of tourists because most of them
have free time as opposed to the working class individuals. In that case, it is clear that the young
population has a lot of free time for tourism; thus the most advantageous niche market in
culinary tourism. Most of the products in the culinary tourism encompass foods and beverages.
The culinary tourism agency will focus fundamentally on creating food symbolism. For instance,
bread and wine have been connected to fantasy. Family meals and business meals represent
communion. Meals like caviar, champagne, and wine on a daily consumption are class markers
which underline a certain lifestyle (Redl, 2013). Some foods act as an emblem through which the

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residents of a particular place recognize their culinary heritage. Therefore, despite our
specialization in foods and beverages, our fundamental aim is to create a sense of diversity in
culinary tourism to attract young tourists across the globe.
Organization
The Canadian Tourism Industry Association is one of the most significant organizations
to join while venturing in culinary tourism. Several reasons underline our priority to join the
organization. Firstly, strategic partnerships have proven to help small businesses grow their
customer base and develop their business (NFIB, 2015). The already established reputation of
the Canadian Tourism Industry Association is most likely to block the competitors in the
culinary tourism enterprise by increasing customer loyalty regarding our products.
Additionally, following the fact that the organization is an international company, our
products are likely to venture new markets across the globe. The agency is also likely to interact
on an international base thus increasing the creativity of initiating new products in the industry
due to the changing taste and preferences among the youths. Secondly, businesses in
organizations take place at the expense of the organization as a whole. Therefore, joining an
organization is a risk management strategy as the loses that are likely to be encountered will be
catered by the organization as a whole regardless of their origin. Furthermore, organizations
operate on a large scale basis thus associated with the advantageous savings due to the aspect of
the economies of scale.
Promotion
The new agency shall be promoted by employing social media platforms. Specifically,
awareness shall be made through Facebook. Facebook shall be relevant in this enterprise due to
its ability to rich the exact niche market. As earlier mentioned, the niche market for the products

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proposed is young tourists. Usually, young tourists are in their youth stages and spent most of
their time on social media platforms (Facebook). Current statistics reveal that at least 73% of the
youths make use of Facebook daily (Grohol, 2018).
Additionally, following the fact that culinary tourism invited people from different
countries, a global advertisement promotional strategy is significant. The advertisement
department shall be located at our headquarters in Ontario. Furthermore, the cost of using
Facebook promotion is minute compared to other forms of advertisement. Facebook only
requires an internet connection which might cost about 5$ to rich 1000 people. The
marketing department shall be responsible for the advertisement process. The marketing
manager shall be responsible for coordinating all the advertisement operations within the agency.
The advertisement shall be done throughout the day as the Facebook attendant has the
responsibility to respond timely to the clients received through the company's Facebook
page.
Knowledge and Skills
The employees who hold leadership positions like the human resource manager and the
departmental managers including the CEO of the agency must have adequate knowledge and
skills in leadership. The leadership skills, in this case, entail creativity, optimism,
trustworthiness, accountability, motivation, and faithfulness (Doyle, 2019). The Facebook
attendants including the employees in the marketing department must have good communication
skills. It is also fundamental for all employees to have adequate knowledge and skills regarding
food safety. The employees could be capable of working independently and contribute fully to a
team environment. Finally, adequate knowledge and understanding of workplace safety practices
are significant.

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Technology
Technology is a significant aspect of culinary tourism. Firstly, this agency shall apply
digital marketing as the first significant technology. The benefit of digital technology
circumnavigates its possibility to deliver timely information to the right niche market on a global
range. The cost of digital marketing is very small which is about $5 in reaching 1000 people
(Standberry, 2017). Secondly, this agency shall employ digital recordkeeping strategies. The
agency shall use computer applications such as excel sheets which help in the design and storage
of records within the enterprise. The technology is less tedious compared to the manual record
keeping method.
Additionally, the information stored can be stored on the cloud for future reference.
However, the cost of buying a computer or laptop is quite high. The agency shall require at least
ten laptops each costing around 300$.
Conclusion
Culinary tourism is one of the best profitable enterprises across the globe. However, critical
analysis is significant to comply with the requirements when the business. This report has
explored the vital sections of developing a culinary tourism agency. Such sections encompass the
niche market, technology used, products, marketing strategy and knowledge and skills required.
However, an expansion of the ideas regarding culinary tourism is recommended.

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References
Doyle, A. (2019). Top ten leadership skills employers look for [online]. Retrieved from:
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/top-leadership-skills-2063782
Grohol M. John (2018). Facebook continues to dominate among youths [online]. Retrieved
from: https://psychcentral.com/blog/facebook-continues-to-dominate-among-youth/
NFIB (2015). The Importance of strategic partnerships in business [online]. Retrieved from:
https://www.nfib.com/content/resources/start-a-business/the-importance-of-strategic-
business-partnerships-52254/
Redl, S. (2013). Culinary tourism for young adult travelers and its connection to destination
management. Unpublished bachelor thesis, Modul Vienna University.
Standberry, S. (2017). Top 25 benefits of Facebook advertising and why you should be using
Facebook advertising [online]. Retrieved from:
https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/facebook-advertising-benefits/
Tan, D. (2018). Culinary tourism, now trending [online]. Retrieved from:
https://www.cordonbleu.edu/news/culinary-tourism/en