The local gastronomy as a tool of marketing of a destination: Case of the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the image of Serbian local gastronomy from the perspective of foreign tourists in cities of Belgrade and Novi Sad in the Republic of Serbia. The starting hypothesis is: There is a positive image of local gastronomy in Serbia from the perspective of foreign tourists. The survey was conducted on a sample of 673 respondents. The findings of this study indicate that foreign tourists have described local gastronomy as 'delicious', the offer being rich in meat dishes and that the price is acceptable (reasonable price), regardless of the city they visited. The results obtained in this survey show which attributes are to be used independently or in combination with food, drinks or the nutrition culture, as a promotional tool in promoting tourist destinations, national and regional gastronomy or local restaurants. This paper presents a practical contribution that can be of use to employees in the tourism industry, particularly to the tourist organization, whose primary consumers are foreign tourists, as well as retailers of local food and drink and marketing experts of the area as a means of promoting the destination.

Keywords

• gastronomy
• food
• beverage
• local cuisine
• destination marketing
• Belgrade
• Novi Sad
• Republic of Serbia