Gastronomic tourism for site visitors to Turkey may be a complicated undertaking but properly worth investing in. Russian-Turkish tries to get to recognize every other’s cuisines advantage each international locations’ economies and promote cultural expertise, the president of the Russian-Turkish Project Development Association (TUR RUS), the representative of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia in Turkey, Ivan Starodubtsev writes within the article Gastronomic tourism in Turkey through Russian eyes, posted in Daily Sabah.
Nowadays, tourism has grown to be increasingly complex and individualized. Every day, the process of booking a tour feels greater, like constructing a unique residence out of LEGOs intended to encompass every purchaser’s personal demands. In this context, gastronomy is one of the “bricks” tour corporations frequently provide to the patron. The discern is controversial, but research shows that even as determining the ride’s vacation spot, the tourists worldwide, to a large volume, bear in mind the local delicacies. And if the delicacies are not appealing for them, this will become an extreme drawback for the usa of foundation within a traveler’s eyes.
The cuisine factor
Moreover, food is no longer an addition to the sea, sun, beaches, cultural, historical past, and shopping. Travelers are seeking out complicated cuisines overseas. Today the expression gastronomic tourism has emerged as very famous, however quite often no longer used nicely. With thousands and thousands of visitors from Russia who opt for Turkey for vacations, gastronomic tourism may be a huge quarter ready to be explored because we offer tasty, diverse regional cuisines. For example, the Aegean, Mediterranean, and Black Sea areas and the cuisines of crucial Anatolia and the east and southeast of the united states of America all provide a perfect type of dishes.
In addition to various home professional funds, federations, and associations, the Culture and Tourism Ministry maintains a lot of events throughout the usa, such as numerous fairs and contests, aiming to popularize nearby gastronomic tourism. However, let’s be sincere: those activities and tours are, in the intervening time, still pretty neighborhood and do not entice a sizeable overseas target audience, which includes Russians. Russian traffic exploring Turkish delicacies are confronted with a paradox.
As the president of the Russian-Turkish Project Development Association (TUR RUS), in addition to the representative of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia in Turkey, I dedicate a considerable amount of time to the question of the way Russians see the country and their expectancies.
Russians love Turkish meals, which they ordinarily experience during holidays spent in all-inclusive lodges. This applies to actually the whole lot: soups, appetizers, essential courses with meat and fish, an expansion of cakes and goodies. Every Russian returning home from Turkey usually grabs Turkish delight, baklava, Turkish coffee, or tea for later. One of the most popular articles on my online weblog about Turkey – called “Turkey is…” – is devoted to winemaking in Turkey and the Turkish subculture of consuming raki. Russians purchase good Turkish wine and raki during their journeys.
That’s why those articles have tens of hundreds of hits in Russia. Numerous YouTube channels committed to the recipes of Turkish cuisine are very famous in Russia. They have a huge target market of Russian visitors, trying to master the hints of Turkish delicacies. Turkish döner is one of the maximum famous street foods in Russia, and Turkish restaurants have become increasingly popular in the fundamental cities of us, namely Moscow and St.
Petersburg, competing with Azerbaijani and Uzbek cuisines famous in Russia. My colleagues from the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia, in addition to organizers of numerous gastronomic activities in Russia, regularly come to me with requests for Turkish cooks or gourmets as visitor speakers or to offer master cooking lessons. For example, either for short goes to – for example, for a master elegance, or a complete-time activity, as an expert in Turkish cuisine loved through Russians.
Sea, sand, sun
However, pretty few Russians tour Turkey only for the sake of the cuisine itself. The most state-of-the-art gastronomic vacationers from Russia decide upon European routes – for instance, Italy, France, and Spain. The “regular” Russian travelers come to Turkey basically for the ocean, sand, and sun, in addition to for open buffets in all-inclusive motels, wherein the food, quite often, is nourishing, a little much less frequently is tasty and rarely gastronomically enjoyable.
However, let’s not be too strict: the most crucial aspect is that each one-inclusive motels establish a primary interest in Turkish delicacies for Russians. Russians, at least, get a primary knowledge of regional cuisines and some of their food. However, Russian visitors in Turkey do not often leave their motels to discover true gastronomy in Turkey.
Let’s say that Russians visiting Europe do not increase these questions, regardless of the truth that it’s far greater high-priced than Turkey and the quantity of local hoteliers and restaurateurs in Europe who communicate Russian is a whole lot lower than in Turkey. As a result, for “sophisticated holidays,” Russians pass almost anywhere but not to Turkey.
This year, at the end of September, for the fifth time in Bodrum, the Days of Russian Culture could be organized with Bodrum Municipality’s participation, the “Bodrum.Com.Ru” venture, and the Bodrum Promotion Office in Moscow. This year our challenge development affiliation TUR-RUS and the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia may additionally be concerned about the occasion.
Together we determined to make gastronomy the principal topic of the Days of Russian Culture in Bodrum – 2019. This year, we’re making plans to deliver no longer handiest Russian chefs, who will display site visitors diverse dishes from Russian regions’ cuisines and Russian VIP guests, celebrities, media representatives, tour and meals bloggers, and reporters. We desire that with our opposite numbers from Turkey, we will initiate now not most effective interest in Turkish and Russian cuisines, but additionally professional speak on gastronomy and gastronomic tourism.
Meanwhile, the reason for this yr’s event isn’t only to talk about a scrumptious gastronomic subject in Bodrum but additionally to get to realize each different better, as Russians and Turks. In the give up, the Year of Culture and Tourism between Russia and Turkey is ongoing, and meals, likely, is one of the most vital cultural factors for any country.
