Culinary Tourism Development Model in Surakarta, Indonesia

This article discusses potentials and culinary tourism development model in the form of a culinary tour package of Surakarta. The general objective of this article is to present a development model of culinary tourism that is relevant to stakeholders such as local government, culinary business, travel business, and tourists. In relation to the efforts in formulating a development model of culinary tourism, the specific objectives are: (i) to identify potentials of local foods in Surakarta; (ii) to create a culinary map of local foods in every district; and (iii) to design a tour package of culinary tourism in Surakarta. This research is a descriptive-qualitative research method, as an effort to find information and development model of culinary tourism in Surakarta. Methods of the data collection used participatory observation, interviews and literature studies. The data collection through observation and interviews were conducted in several government institutions, culinary business and tourism agencies of Surakarta. Literature study included all concepts and theories related to culinary tour and travel especially culinary references existing in Surakarta. The results obtained from this study show that culinary potential in Surakarta is very diverse located in five districts. The culinary potentials existing in Surakarta is presented on a culinary map containing culinary centers and the local foods offered in every district. Based on the information of culinary map, the culinary potentials are designed to a culinary tour package that deserves to be a new concept of development model of culinary tourism in Surakarta.