A NATIONAL strategy to boost food tourism in Scotland has been launched in a bid to position the nation as a global destination for those in search of the world’s best cuisine.
Industry body Scotland Food & Drink has joined forces with the Scottish Tourism Alliance along with the Culinary Tourism Alliance to form the new Food Tourism Strategy board.
The new board will aim to develop Scotland’s first national framework to grow food tourism, with the goal of developing a strategy that will draw attention towards the country’s broad range of quality produce.
As part of the development process for the new strategy, the new Food Tourism Strategy Board is seeking input from those working in the food, drink and/or tourism sector.
James Withers, chief executive of Scotland Food & Drink, said: “We have a huge opportunity to make Scotland one of the leading food and drink destinations in the world.
“Every day, almost £3m is spent on food and drink by visitors in Scotland and we know that they are wiling to pay even more for authentic food and drink experiences.
“Our food and drink is sold all over the world, from five-star hotels in Dubai to top bars in New York, but we want visitors in Scotland to have the same world-class eating and drink experience.
“We’ve set an ambitious target in our new strategy, Ambition 2030, to more than double the size of the food and drink industry to £30bn by 2030.”
