6 – 7 September 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijan Tourism Association will host the “Flavours of the Silk Road: International Conference on Food, Culture and Tourism” at Baku’s iconic Jumeirah Bilgah Beach Resort.
This conference will be dedicated to highlighting the huge potential of the Silk Road region for food and intangible culture tourism. Silk Road destinations are widely recognised for the main sites of built heritage – but the Silk Road region is home to a rich diversity of food and cultural tradition.
As a recent distinctive trend in tourism, culinary or food tourism has the potential to significantly contribute to the development of sustainable tourism products. Without requiring major investments, food tourism can effectively promote the cultural and culinary heritage of a destination and this way boost tourism developments. This conference will be dedicated to highlighting the huge potential of the Silk Road region for food and intangible culture tourism. The conference will bring together representatives from tourism ministries, national tourism offices, tourism officials, experts and grass roots practitioners from across the Silk Road countries to share best practices and discuss how the Silk Road destinations can enhance their competitiveness through food tourism.
Conference highlights include:
• What consumers are hungry for and what leading hotels, restaurants and airlines are serving up
• The significant export potential of food, agriculture, viniculture along the Silk Road, with a particular focus on small medium enterprises
• How food tourism can stimulate investment, infrastructure development and trans boundary cooperation
• The case for CSR: how businesses can contribute to positive causes while improving the bottom line
• Inspiring examples from major brands and local businesses contributing to local development
• How the new media and social networks can help the development of sustainable tourism along the Silk Road
The underlying purpose of this conference is to promote collaborative initiatives and partnership building. Therefore this conference will be a unique opportunity for you to meet key stakeholders in the fields of food, culture and tourism.
Provisional conference programme: http://silkroad.unwto.org/en/
General Information Note of the conference with information on accommodation, transportation, visas and other logistical questions: http://silkroad.unwto.org/en/
