The role of actors’ cooperation, local anchoring and innovation in creating culinary tourism experiences in the rural Slovenian Mediterranean

Food-related experiences are becoming increasingly important for destination choice in particular in the rural Mediterranean hinterland. In contrast to the mass tourism in littoral areas, the development of hinterland tourism has more favourable consequences for the local population. The paper examines culinary experiences in the rural Slovenian Mediterranean as a possible driver of sustainable tourism development. We collected 213 culinary experiences and further explored 10 of them by the following three aspects: cooperation of actors from the local environment, embedment of the local community and innovative approaches. The qualitative approach comprised field work, short interviews and in-depth interviews. We found a linkage between the types of culinary experiences and the types of organizers and established that innovation plays an important role in their success. // Pomen sodelovanja akterjev, vpetost v lokalno okolje in inovativnost pri ustvarjanju kulinaricnih turisticnih izkusenj na ruralnem slovenskem Sredozemlju S hrano povezane izkusnje postajajo vedno pomembnejse pri izbiri destinacij, zlasti v ruralnem zaledju Sredozemlja. V nasprotju od masovnega turizma v obmorskih krajih ima razvoj turizma v zaledju vec pozitivnih ucinkov na lokalno prebivalstvo. Clanek povzema raziskavo kulinaricnih izkusenj v ruralnem delu slovenskega Sredozemlja kot potencialnega gonila trajnostnega razvoja turizma. Zabeležili smo 213 kulinaricnih izkusenj, med njimi pa smo jih s treh vidikov podrobneje raziskali deset: z vidika sodelovanja akterjev v lokalnem okolju, vpetosti v lokalno skupnost in inovativnosti pristopov. Kvalitativni pristop je vkljuceval delo na terenu, kratke intervjuje in poglobljene intervjuje. Ugotovili smo povezavo med tipi kulinaricnih izkusenj in tipi organizatorjev ter pomen inovativnosti za njihovo uspesnost.