Varför matturism? Möjligheter och incitament för utveckling

Food tourism has recently become a trend throughout the world, and Sweden is not an exception. Regions and municipalities are now increasingly beginning to discover the potential benefits of food tourism development. Food and local food culture are nowadays increasingly considered as a powerful tool to differentiate and create autenticity in order to excel in the global tourism market. Projects aiming to promote food tourism is becoming more common in Sweden, but there are few studies on the subject. This study aims to explore the incentives for the implementation of publicly funded projects aiming to promote food tourism at Swedish destinations with a special focus on the High Coast area of Sweden, while also investigating opportunities and ways to promote food tourism in this area. The study showed that the most common incentives for the implementation of publicly funded projects aiming to promote food tourism in Sweden today were increased local food production through the promotion of local food producs and creating cross-sectoral collaboration, connection local businesses and public actors. The High Coast area showed to have good opportunities for the development of food tourism, if development takes place through regional planning, with cross-sectoral collaboration and with a focus on sustainability and local food products. Conditions should also be provided for shorter food chains.