Global Experience Industries. Jens Christensen
World wide, the restaurant, café and bar industry market is about $1,500 billion, of which only a minor share may be assigned to tourism.
Cuisine
When travelling one naturally enjoys the cooking traditions and practices of the destination.100 Everywhere cooking or ‘cuisine’ is associated with a specific culture. A cuisine is primarily influenced by the ingredients that are available locally and through trade, which also includes beverages, such as wine, liquor, beer, tea and coffee. Enormous improvements in food production, preservation, storage and shipping has given almost everybody access not only to the local cuisine but also to many other cuisines of the world. As a consequence, cuisines everywhere are typically a combination of local traditions and international cuisines. The ‘fusion cuisine’ is a term for developments in many contemporary restaurants that combine elements of various culinary traditions.
Some cuisines have strongly influenced many other national cuisines even to the extent of a global reach. Such internationally spread cuisines are the Chinese and Indian cuisines, mainly following the international settlement of Chinese and Indians in Southeast Asia and other places of the world. In the Western world, American burgers spread with the expansion of the McDonald’s fast food chain and then, even elsewhere, mainly to emerging countries. The Italian pizza and pasta dishes have become popular on a global scale, too. When it comes to fine cuisine, all Western cuisines are influenced strongly by French cooking techniques. The growing search for authentic experiences and quality food has stressed the importance of making food from local vegetables and meat. What might be called a ‘slow food’ movement has emerged as an alternative to the industrial like productions methods of fast food.
The world may be divided into several regional cuisines including many similar or related national and local cuisines. The Asian cuisine may be a term for various cuisines in East, Southeast and South Asia, based on staples such as rice and noodles accompanying dishes of vegetables, meat and fish.101 Rice is a vital component of many Asian cuisines, and in contrast to the cuisines of Northern Europe and the USA, or the Western cuisine in general, meat or fish are not considered the main ingredients of a dish, but more like most of the Mediterranean cuisines which are based on wheat-derived components such as pasta or cous cous. Asian dishes include various spices and are to a lesser or greater extent well seasoned. Chopsticks are the primary eating utensils, contrary to the fork and knife of Western cuisines. Soup is usually served at the start of a meal, but unlike most Western meals, an Asian meal does not typically end with a dessert. If it does, however, it may be sliced fruit or a sweet soup. The Latin American cuisine, which of course also is diverse, includes maize-based dishes (for instance tortillas), meat, spices, and beverages such as mate and horchata. The Latin American cuisine is a blend of all the many groups of immigrants and commercial influences from Europe, Africa, and North America. The US cuisine is a combination of the nation’s rich supply of almost every kind of food and beverage and strong European as well as African and Latin American cooking traditions.
Exploring national and local cuisines reveals how people originally adapted to local natural conditions to make a living and, later on, as industrialization took-off, combined local traditions with other cuisines of the world. Gastronomy is the term for the study of relationship between culture and food.102
Attractions
The choice of destination is often the first point that is decided when planning a holiday, e.g. one might want to visit a particular country, city or type of countryside.103 As a rule, some attractions are attributed to the chosen destination, including sea and climate, landscape, city, cultural and historic memorials or amusement parks. In connection with such attractions, one typically finds hotels, holiday houses, camping sites, restaurants and shopping facilities. Summer tourism is mostly connected with beaches, cities and/or cultural monuments, cruising and amusement parks. Winter tourism has produced numerous skiing resorts mainly in North America and Western Europe, including lifts, ski schools, rental of skiing equipment, transportation, hotels, restaurants, etc. Coastal, city and skiing vacations are the kind of tourism that attracts the majority of world tourists. In addition, several niche tourism forms have been cultivated, including adventure in rugged regions or adventurous sports, backpacker tourism, health tourism, etc. So, destinations compete with each other seeking to attract the tourists of the world.104
Cultural and Natural Attractions
The world heritage list of UNESCO includes approximately 800 cultural and natural sites around the world.105 In many ways, cultural tourism is linked to several of these attractions and the tourism services of transportation, hospitality, souvenirs and sightseeing that have been built around them. Such outstanding sites include the Great Barrier Reef and the Blue Mountains of Australia; the historic centre of Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Saint Petersburg and Lima among other places; the Great Wall and Imperial Palaces of China; the Pyramids of Egypt; the Palace and Park of Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, the Banks of the Seine and Mont-Saint-Michel of France; the Acropolis in Athens; the Taj Mahal in India; historic Rome, Florence, Venice, Assisi and Siena of Italy; the Buddhist Monuments in Japan; the Old City of Jerusalem; the Historic Centre of Mexico City and Mexico’s pre-hispanic cities; Alhambra, Cordoba, Granada and Toledo in Spain; Stonehenge, Bath and historic London in England; Serengeti National Park in Tanzania; and Yellowstone National Park, Grand Canyon National Park and the Statue of Liberty in the USA.
The cultural and natural heritage localities of the world have become the hotspots of national and international tourism.106 Nature and adventure tourism may be included in this segment of tourism, too. Airlines, tour operators, the hospitality industry and the craft, souvenir and cultural sectors make billions of dollars by servicing these attractions. Without the sites of cultural and natural heritage, the craft industry and museums would probably attract much less attention. The revenues of museums, historical sites and the like in the USA amounted to more than $10 billion in 2005.107 A global estimate might be approximately $50 billion. This is only peanuts compared to the income that transportation and hospitality industries make from organizing travel, accommodation, etc. to cultural and natural attractions. The worldwide crafts industry is found throughout all nations and corners of the world (see also below chapter on Crafts and Hobbies). Based on US and UK figures, the global industry of crafts may be estimated at a $100 billion business.108
City Tourism
City tourism has become increasingly important to all the cities and countries of the world.109 People travel frequently to attractive places, mainly for cultural reasons, but they are also drawn by shopping opportunities. For one-day tourists, shopping is a major reason for travelling, while natural and cultural tourism dominates vacations of longer duration. A European study of city tourism indicates that it is motivated by several factors.110 Culture is one reason for travelling, including historic and contemporary artefacts, arts and museums. Experiencing lifestyle and creative industries represent additional reasons to visit a city. Finally, city tourism springs from business and shopping trips.
City tourism is the most expanding kind of tourism. Millions of people travel to the metropolises of the world. Most frequently visited cities are New York, London, Paris and Rome. In second place, follow the cities of Mexico, Tokyo, Beijing, Sydney, Berlin, Barcelona, Hamburg, Madrid, Athens, Vienna, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Milan and Lisbon. New York City is probably the most popular city of all cities of the world. Some 40 million foreign and American tourists visit New York each year. Hotels, restaurants, shopping stores and centres as well as cultural attractions live and die by this enormous flow of people and money into the city.111 More than 80 pct. of the visitors are American. In total, domestic and international visitors spend some $20 billion each year. Just like other cities, tourists are attracted by the sights of the city, in particular Manhattan and its avenues and districts, including Times Square, Chinatown, Soho, Greenwich Village and Wall Street. Famous are Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, Broadway, the Empire State Building and the Museum of Modern Art. Shopping opportunities are great, too.