Gastronomy is much more than just-food. It represents distinct peoples' cultures, history, customs, and feelings of community. It is a method of enhancing cultural understanding and bringing people and traditions closer together. Gastronomy tourism is also growing as a significant cultural heritage guardian, and the business helps offer possibilities, including employment, particularly in rural areas.

Figure 2 - Gastronomy Tourism. Source - Google

Gastro-tourism growth in Africa is delayed and hampered by shaky support from major tourist sector actors. Notably, the popularity of the safari experience in African places has led to apprehension about new tourist operations. The existence of rich African culture and legacy, on the other hand, gives an undiscovered niche and offering for gastro tourism. The advent of gastro tourism has generated a need for the taste of local and genuine cuisine while experiencing the hospitality of a destination—this is part of the authentic travel experience. The cultural diversity and history of Africa are magnificently represented in its foods. Century-long cross-cultural connections with merchants and ancestral customs have resulted in a distinct and diversified array of meals that are carefully handed down from generation to generation. Furthermore, the idea of "do with what you have" is prevalent in African cuisine, resulting in some of the most imaginative and original flavors one can imagine. African dishes are diverse and genuine, striking an impossible balance between tradition and innovation.

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Figure 3 - Gastronomy tourism in Africa. Source - Google

Travel, like every other industry in the contemporary era, is influenced by developing consumer trends. Food experiences allow individuals to communicate and bond when they are away from home. As a result, new consumer patterns have emerged, influencing the creation of new types of tourism. One of the themes fueling gastro-tourism is wellness travel. This customer group is made up of travelers who are looking for nutritionally sound meal plans and diets. This pushes travel planners to make these encounters unique and engaging. Furthermore, easier planning allows gastro-tourists to identify clusters of gastro-activities within their reach. This sector is generally connected with millennials, who see food as an experience, preferring alternative eating establishments and fine dining for the memories. Furthermore, millennial foodies like sharing cuisine with locals and learning how to eat like a native. This is due to a preference for street or market food, an increased interest in seeing the food production process, and cookery training. Travelers may interact and create unforgettable encounters via food and drink through these activities.

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Every place has its own cuisine and beverage culture to share. The distinction is in how destinations work to capitalize on opportunities and trends. Gastro-tourism, as a major possibility for Africa's tourist business, should be maximized for enhanced and better results. Furthermore, this helps to cope with seasonality in tourism as well as changing consumer tastes. One such example is the South African food and wine scenes, which have grown in popularity among gastro-tourists, promoting the country as a culinary tourism destination even for foreign visitors. However, for gastro travelers, the experience is heavily influenced by the packaging. Some of the ways that African gastro tourism may be improved are as follows. To begin, African governments should adopt favorable laws for new market entrants, particularly local food sellers and small investors, since present licensing policies discriminate against new market entrants. Another option for hotels in traditional tourist regions to enhance gastro-tourism in Africa is to cooperate with host communities/residents to develop clusters of local cuisine experiences for their visitors to consume. Third, tourist boards throughout the continent should promote and assist street food sellers in order to increase the potential for this kind of tourism in African marketplaces. Another strategy to improve gastro-tourism growth is to encourage destinations to promote the identification of local cuisine as a cultural legacy in order to build the destination's culinary identity and gastronomy. Gastronomic branding may also aid in the optimization of gastro-tourism by allowing places to create real tales about their cuisine.

African gastronomy remains an unlimited universe to explore and a great motivation to wander off the beaten path and visit rural villages.

 Anand Subramanian is a freelance photographer and content writer based out of Tamil Nadu, India. Having a background in Engineering always made him curious about life on the other side of the spectrum. He leapt forward towards the Photography life and never looked back. Specializing in Documentary and  Portrait photography gave him an up-close and personal view into the complexities of human beings and those experiences helped him branch out from visual to words. Today he is mentoring passionate photographers and writing about the different dimensions of the art world.

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