Food tourism

The success of farmers markets lies in their ability to promote local produce to the local community says a leading advocate for promoting regional produce.

Zannie Flanagan, recently   made a Member of the Order of Australia for promoting regional produce believes that the primary role of farmers markets is to serve the local community and that the benefits of promoting ‘regionality’ to high end restaurants and tourism are secondary.

“Regionality does not come from high-end restaurants,” Flanagan told a food tourism summit at Tasting Australia in Adelaide. “Such a marketplace is not created in and of itself for tourists.”

Flanagan, who founded the Willunga Markets in 2002 and then went on to establish the Adelaide Showground farmers markets says that such markets are bigger draw cards than many of the Government funded tourism events.

‘Authentic’ and ‘hands-on’ are the new buzz words in food tourism as people look for an experience or skill to take home.

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