Welcome to the final step of our new 10 step series about what destination marketing organizations need to do to develop a strategy to woo food- and beverage-loving travelers. This is an excerpt — Step 10 — the final step of our 10-Step Guide — from our full report which you can download here .
Congratulations — things are going well. Visitors are coming, and they’re happy! The word-of-mouth engine has started and it’s working. Or maybe some adjustments are needed.
Your work is never done. Now is the time to gather feedback, either qualitative (such as interviews) or quantitative (like ranking and surveys).
Measure your successes and failures, and also track suggestions from your visitors as well as your own stakeholders. Take these learnings and fold them back into your next strategic plan.
What results should you measure? That depends on the tools you have available as well as your requirements. You could look at increase in visitor numbers, increase in tax revenue, change in visitor satisfaction over time, change in website visitor numbers over time, etc. It’s important to set a baseline metric and then monitor change over time. You need to see if you’re actually improving!
Continuous innovation is necessary for business growth, industry growth and to maintain a destination’s leadership position. Copying what other destinations are doing is merely reactive and will not result in glowing articles, stories, photos and videos from journalists, bloggers and visitors. You need to custom develop what works for your specific destination. Solutions are not one size fits all.
Here at the World Food Travel Association, we always strive to innovate. And in fact, our Association has been behind every major innovation our industry has seen since we founded the industry in 2001.
We hope that you enjoyed our 10 step series highlighting the major steps in food tourism/culinary tourism/ gastronomy tourism destination development. Of course developing a strategy, products, experiences and marketing that food- and beverage-loving travelers will respond to cannot be condensed into 10 simple steps. Every situation is different in myriad ways. It’s a complex landscape to navigate, and we’re here for you every step of the way.
How can we help you? “The only source of knowledge is experience,” said a slightly famous man named Albert Einstein. I founded the food travel trade industry in 2001, and ever since, have served as the Executive Director of the World Food Travel Association, the world’s leading authority on food and beverage tourism. I’d love to hear from you!
