Ubud in Gianyar Regency, Bali, was immediately set as a global standard gastronomicdestination by world tourism organizations or the UN World Tourism Organization ( UNWTO). Chairman of the Ministry of Tourism’s Acceleration and Culinary Development Expenditure Team, Vita Datau welcomed the “Kick Off” determination of Ubud to be a gastronomic destination for the UNWTO standard prototype.
Vita said the stipulation was called the development stage of gastronomic tourism products in Ubud, the role of the Gianyar Regency government, and tourism industry players would be more involved.
“Through interviews, visits, verification of the UNWTO team will work for approximately one week at a destination that is very ready to become a world-class gastronomic destination,” he added.
Vita said that her party saw great potential in Indonesia with exceptional gastronomic assets, especially the diversity of cultures and local food ingredients that could attract foreign tourists.
“This program is one of the Ministry of Tourism’s Culinary Development Strategy, which is to increase the popularity of culinary destinations that are better known to the world as gastronomic destinations to international standards,” he said.
More details Vita Datau said there are three important stages in the process of making Ubud a world gastronomic destination. First, is conducting an inventory of assets and gastronomic attractions including mapping the readiness of the industry and business actors which are then recorded in a report and submitted to UNWTO.
Second, the assessment by UNWTO and kick off is carried out by the verification and analysis process through a fairly detailed method including interviews with all gastronomic stakeholders, Food and Beverages, producers, hotels, restaurants, chefs, food festival initiators, regional governments, transportation providers, academics, and local tourists are also foreign.
The process in the field will last 8 days in Ubud, Gianyar and its surroundings, while the questionares will be conducted online and offline for three weeks. At this stage planning and strategy recommendations are also carried out.
Third, recommendations that need to be implemented and carried out by stakeholders for a second assessment scheduled for early August 2019. If all processes are carried out correctly, Ubud can be declared a gastronomic destination for the UNWTO prototype, which is in accordance with the gastronomy destination development guideline UNWTO.
“It is hoped that this program will be completed as soon as possible and Ubud will be the first holistic gastronomy prototype in Indonesia and the world,” said Vita Datau.
The UNWTO team was represented by Aditya Amaranggana as a Project Specialist, saying that he appreciated Indonesia finally being selected as the prototype destination for Gastronomic Tourism.
“We applaud the cooperation that has been established since 2017 to reach this stage. Three important things about this program are that one focus of UNWTO 2019 is SDG’s, these two programs can help achieve SDG’s 2030 because gastronomy is an upstream to downstream ecosystem that touches many points at SDG’s, “Aditya said.
Besides that, he said, gastronomy is able to open new jobs in the Food and Beverage industry which has good potential in the world.
“Through this program, it is hoped that it will provide an opportunity for Indonesia through Gianyar Ubud to show extraordinary gastronomic cultural assets,” he said.
Roberta Garibaldi, the Lead Expert appointed by UNWTO, explained that a holistic gastronomic destination has cultural heritage value, local quality of products or food ingredients where the industry is growing, gastronomic amenities are quite capable and sustained (restaurants, warungs, cafes, bars) that elevate local wisdom.
In addition, the establishment of Ubud as a gastronomic destination can also encourage the existence of traditional markets, suppliers of wine, coffee, tea, organic products, formal and informal gastronomic education services that focus on local culinary wisdom and local eating culture.
However, he suggested that other educational facilities such as museums, places to make local food and beverages that became the center of public education, including gastronomic research institutions, festivals and expos that focused on food and beverages, as well as local materials were also enhanced by the establishment of this destination.
Minister of Tourism Arief Yahya said that if you want to compete in the global, you must use global standards. Furthermore the Menpar said that the advantage of promoting culinary tourism or gastronomy is the feeling that food cannot be presented visually, that is why tourists must come to their destination to enjoy local food.
“Being the best will increase 3C like when we win world awards, namely Credibility, Confidence, and Calibrate. Even so, the gastronomic destination program with the standard of UNWTO will be the achievement of Indonesian tourism to be the best in the global, “he said.
Source: https://www.suara.com/lifestyle/2019/06/11/131958/ubud-bali-ditetapkan-sebagai-destinasi-gastronomi-dunia
