Oleotourism: A Comparison of Three Mediterranean Countries

Anna D’Auria,Marco Tregua,Ana Čehić,Carla Marano-Marcolini

doi:10.3390/su12218995

Abstract

The recent trends in the tourism industry, as well as the attention paid by scholars, practitioners, and institutions, show the relevance of natural tourism as a lever for local development (United Nations World Tourism Organization -UNWTO-, 2005). In this scenario, the business of oleotourism, namely, a form of domestic tourism based on activities related to olive oil production, its tasting, and some connected rural experiences such as harvesting, is continuously—albeit slowly—growing in Europe and especially in the Mediterranean area. Scholars agree that oleotourism plays a key role for multiple reasons, due to its relations to local territories, firms, resources, and other forms of tourism, also favoring sustainable development. Due to the interplay with the local context, the authors plan to combine and compare the evidence from three Mediterranean countries offering examples of tourism initiatives based on olive oil, namely, Spain, Italy, and Croatia. The similarities and differences emerging from the comparison will expand the understanding of this phenomenon and lead to the highlighting of key features and choices in favoring its development in the coming years. Therefore, this research, through the analysis of both theoretical and practical evidences and data from the local contexts, aims to identify additional knowledge for scholars, managers, and policy-makers. The results of the analysis allow the authors to conclude that, although each of the three countries is in a different stage of development, they all have elements that seem to be common to this type of tourism. Finally, it is concluded that oleotourism can be characterized as a form of sustainable tourism, given the preservation of local customs and landscapes, the participation of the resident community, or the development of quality and food safety labels.

Highlights

Oleotourism has been defined as “a form of domestic tourism related to gastronomy, which allows for the essence of the culture encompassing the world of the olive to be captured while deepening knowledge about everything connected to olive oil” ([1], p. 180) and it “may be a complementary means of income for the rural population” ([2], p. 116)
Much evidence has shown the recent trend towards this form of tourism, as in 2005, the World Tourism Organization stressed the relevance of natural tourism as a lever for local development [3] (UNWTO, 2005), recalling “The Routes of the Olive Tree” [4], as well as the Financial Times [5] and the Olive Oil Times [6] describing oleotourism as “the big thing” with specific reference to the so-called World Capital of Olive Oil, the city of Jaén, in Andalucía, in the southern part of Spain
These elements have been considered and combined in various ways by authors dealing with oleotourism and sustainable development from multiple perspectives (Millán et al, 2018) [2], the support it interchanges with other tourism-based activities (Cehicet al., 2020) [10], the interplay with food experience and with food as a way to brand a destination (Jiménez-Beltrán et al, 2016 [11], Moral Cuadra et al, 2020 [12]), and the effects it may offer to local development for both tourism and other activities occurring in the surrounding areas (Tregua et al, 2018) [13]

Summary

Introduction

The business of oleotourism is continuously—albeit slowly—growing in Europe and especially in the Mediterranean area, due to the abundance of olive trees in this part of the world Other countries, such as Brazil and the US, recently started some initiatives based on olive oil as the main attraction for tourists. Scholars agree that oleotourism plays a key role for multiple reasons, due to its relations to local territories, firms, resources, and other forms of tourism. Several questions are still open, as highlighted by scholars recently calling for further research, especially as it concerns the seasonality of this business (Martín-Martín et al, 2020) [14], the links that have emerged between this special interest tourism and other activities and the chances to further consolidate them (Pulido-Fernández et al, 2019 [15]; Parrilla-González et al, 2020 [16]), and the effects on firms diversifying their core business to profit from the growing interest in oleotourism (Parrilla-González et al, 2020) [16]

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Conclusion