Zsuzsa Deli-Gray (ed.)

Cases in Tourism Marketing III

Flavours on the Screen – Anna’s Culinary Film Journey Across Europe

Tímea Zsófia Tóth

Film has long been more than mere entertainment: it evokes emotions, reveals memorable places, and transmits culture. The cities, landscapes, flavours, and scents presented on screen can transform into real destinations for viewers – a phenomenon known as film tourism, which has become one of the most dynamic segments of the tourism industry over the past two decades. Through visual storytelling, millions of tourists are inspired to visit locations made iconic by a particular scene, a culinary moment, or a beloved character. Culinary film tourism is a particularly sensitive medium: it offers not only images but also conveys cultural heritage, identity, tradition, and a shared sense of community. Dishes, markets, restaurants, and family tables depicted on screen carry deep emotional and symbolic meanings. As Anna Irimiás and Sue Beeton both emphasise, film is not merely a promotional driver but a subtle cultural bridge that connects destinations and audiences through narrative. This is the world we enter through Anna’s journey – a young woman travelling across Europe, guided by the films and flavours that have shaped her imagination.

Film tourism has grown rapidly since the early 2000s (Beeton, 2005; Irimiás, 2015). The visual world of cinema acts not only as entertainment but as a narrative bridge to real-world destinations. Viewers often seek out places immortalised by iconic scenes, characters, or gastronomic experiences. Gastro-film tourism is even more complex: food is not only a visual element but a form of identity and cultural code – a kind of “taste-memory” that shapes the image of a destination long before the traveller arrives.

Through Anna’s travels, this case study explores how film and gastronomy intertwine in tourism. The narrative functions as a form of experiential marketing, showcasing Europe’s most iconic locations – from Tuscany to Barcelona, Lyon, Prague, and Vienna – and revealing how cinematic images and flavours turn into lived experiences, strengthening emotional attachment to place. Readers are encouraged to observe how theory and narrative interact, how cinematic nostalgia becomes a motivational force, and how emerging tourism trends (such as slow travel, experience-based marketing, and niche tourism) appear throughout the story.

Tartalomjegyzék

Kiadó: Akadémiai Kiadó

Online megjelenés éve: 2026

ISBN: 978 963 664 217 4

Marketing Turizmus

The publication of the third volume of Cases in Tourism Marketing is truly welcome news from both an educational and a professional perspective. Through real-world, timely, and thought-provoking cases, this collection helps readers – students and practitioners alike – gain a deeper understanding of the complex world of decision-making in tourism marketing. The case studies not only convey professional knowledge but also develop analytical skills, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking. One of the volume’s key strengths is its focus on issues that define contemporary tourism, including the role of digitalization, artificial intelligence, destination branding, and stakeholder collaboration in tourism marketing. Long-awaited and highly relevant, this third volume is a worthy continuation of the previous collections and will undoubtedly serve as a valuable resource in higher education in tourism, while also being highly recommended to professionals who enjoy reflecting on challenges and opportunities beyond their own immediate field of expertise.

Tamara Ratz PhD

Director, Centre for International Relations, Kodolányi János University

Head of Tourism Department, Professor of Tourism

It is an honor for me to recommend this volume to everyone who wishes to understand tourism marketing not only in theory, but also through its real business and human dimensions. The worlds of tourism and hospitality have undergone fundamental changes in recent years, which makes case studies based on real market situations, decision-making dilemmas and current challenges especially valuable in supporting both learning and critical thinking. This book provides not only professional knowledge, but also encourages a complex mindset, creative problem-solving and the ability to think in connections — exactly the skills today’s tourism professionals need most. I wholeheartedly recommend this volume to students, educators and tourism professionals alike.

Judit Fodor (Liptai)

Group Director of Sales and Marketing, Danubius Hotels

Hivatkozás: https://mersz.hu/deli-gray-cases-in-toursim-marketing-iii//

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