Top Tourism
- May 11, 2021
- 6 min read

Food Tourism Aspects - May 2021

This Month:

What are the first steps that tourism companies must take to safely serve customers this summer?

Replies:

Ensure all locations being offered to tourists have strong Covid-19 safe practices. Hygiene is the most important aspect for travelers, and all locations need to ensure all staff are adequately trained to high standards in order to not only implement good practices but also have the empowerment to police. The development of a certified qualification/certificate for both the establishments and individuals that meet high levels of “covid safe” standards and practices should be part of a selling tool and offer the necessary confidence for the benefit of all.

Answer provided by: Alan Coxon. Alan Coxon is the President of the “International Taste Institute”(iTi) Brussels ( chefs jury).

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Tourism companies in summer will have to provide customers with fairness and prompt information with regards to Covid-19 measures and developments in their area. This summer, what is at stake is more than a season. Tour providers and all tourism stakeholders are playing their cards, are planting the seed but the crops will be harvested the next season. For all tourism players, this time more than ever before, is a matter of seeing far with empathy for the guests, without fear, avoiding simplistic profitability thoughts and with as much vision as they are capable of.

Answer provided by: Livio Colapinto. Livio Colapinto is a certified ambassador of the World Food Travel Association in Italy. He is a forward-thinking, curious researcher and analyst of food and hospitality. He has worked with -and mentored- a wide range of companies and groups in the restaurant and hospitality industry. He has also assisted international food professionals.

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The first and most basic step is to ensure the safety and hygiene of the customers, accurately implementing all the measures set by the state. But beyond that, another important element is the adaptability that we will show as entrepreneurs to the new habits of travelers. In the last year, great changes have taken place concerning the way travelers tend to experience their trips. Every tourism business should be ready to adapt to the new habits of travelers in order to satisfy them as much as possible.

Answer provided by: Maria Athanasopoulou. Maria Athanasopoulou is an ambassador of the World Food Travel Association in Greece and Master Culinary Travel Professional. She is the founder of Respond On Demand Ltd, a tourism marketing company aiming to the promotion of all types of Greek tourism to travel agents abroad. She is also a co-owner of Top Tourism, a non-profit company focusing on gastronomy.

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All employees in the tourism companies must be trained to the proper implementation of the hygiene measures set by the state. We must always remember that the mission of each tourism company is to make its guests/clients feel safe, offering them the most appropriate scenery to enjoy their holidays and relax.

Answer provided by: Chrissa Krassa. Chrissa Krassa serves as the association’s certified ambassador for Cyprus, supporting the development of food tourism in the country. From 1998 to 2011 she was appointed to organize the Philoxenia Tourism Exhibition – held on the grounds of the International fair of Thessaloniki, Greece. In 2011 she founded Top Tourism, a non-profit company focusing on gastronomy and aiming to promote the Greek tourism effectively in a worldwide basis.

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As regards my field, hosting people, in my opinion first we have to sanify attentively, following a schedule and a policy we will share with our guests. We should mail it to them before their arrival and ask them a collaboration, as well as make the policy at their attention somewhere, somehow in their room.

Answer provided by: Tina Castaldi. Tina Castaldi is the co-owner of Fattoria di Statiano, a farmhouse agritourism family run business http://www.agriturismostatiano.com/

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Safely serving customers this summer will require a delicate balance as many customers will have been vaccinated and will want to skip the protocols that we have been using since the start of the pandemic. At the same time there will be many who are either not vaccinated or who are still cautious. Hosts will need to establish some protocols that they provide in advance so that guests know what to expect. They will need to reinforce them humorously but firmly at the start of the tour and they will need to be ready with supplies such as extra masks. They will probably need to remind some guests during the tour but again with a light touch and invoking the legal requirements and the comfort of others as the reason.

Answer provided by: Anne P. Crick. Anne P. Crick is a Senior Lecturer at Mona School of Business & Management, https://middlingthrough.wordpress.com/

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I’d like to say we done all these steps and we are confident that this will be of much help to restart our business once the travel restrictions due to Covid-19 will allow travelling this summer.

Promoting safe health practices is, of course, going to be beneficial for the health of the travelers and is also for the good of the community.
Updating the travelers on the pandemic situation in our country with a dedicated page on our website.
Offer destinations that make it easy to maintain social distancing practices.
Putting in place all the precautions to reassure the travelers that they will be safe while in a particular country or location.
Making sure that all suppliers and vendors implement and comply with all anti Covid-19 safety regulations.
Design itineraries that avoid public forms of transportation and crowded tourist areas, focusing on minor locations (small towns).
Include private transport or business class train carriage so that they can stay safe and avoid crowds.
Providing the travelers with detailed online and offline itineraries will be top of the mind for travelers concerned about staying informed.
Assuring the travelers that their expert tour operator will be available to give trustworthy advice while they are in-country.
Taking the principles of sustainable tourism into more consideration.
All these practices will allow tourism to start operating again safely and sustainably, producing economic benefits for those involved as well.

Answer provided by: DANIELA. Daniela is an Expert Travel Designer and Passionate about Italy and. She is the founder of Italy Creative, and of Travel and Shop Experience

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My feeling is that travel services can open, under Covid-19 safety responsible act only for vaccinated clients. As airports require also a 72 hours PCR negative test- the combination seems to be safe. One should keep in mind that also all employees of the services chain must be vaccinated

Answer provided by: Udi Goldschmidt. Udi Goldschmidt is the Founder Jerusalem Culinary Institute. Since 2000, Udi has been creating food tourism adventures. Udi built the Bedouin style hospitality camp at the Massada National Park and established the Jerusalem Culinary Institute. As one of the founders of culinary tourism attractions, Udi is a popular speaker on the subject and a consultant to the Israeli Ministry of Tourism. He currently writes and publishes articles about the uniqueness of Israel as a food destination. In 2017-18, Udi served as the elected Chair of the Israeli Association for Culinary Culture. Currently Udi promotes the concept of the Culinary Museum of Israel while being the National coordinator for the Slow Food Chef Alliance.

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Guarantee all the sanitized measures and if possible make the experience one at exterior or open places. Even ask for vaccine credentials to the customers.

Answer provided by: Adriana Perez de Legaspi

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Something very important is to know the protocol adopted by the national and local government (in the case of Spain this may change from one autonomous community to another). Afterward, carry out adequate training for your staff, in addition to raising awareness, aimed at staff and guests through informative messages via posters or through your social media channel. On the other hand, if the local government offers some certification that guarantees the implantation, it can inspire additional confidence to have for the accommodation or tourist company that this is designed. In Spain, there is the “Safe Tourism Certified” seal for 21 Spanish tourism subsectors.

Answer provided by: http://www.bcncookbookclub.com/, a space about gastronomic literature and everything else that has to do with this subject: recipes, suggestions of places to discover, etc.

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