The Restaurant Industry as a Tool for Promoting Regional Gastronomic Tourism in the Novosibirsk Region

Abstract

Following global trends, Russian regions are beginning to pay more and more attention to the potential of gastronomy for the development of tourism, the export of regional food products, the preservation and development of cultural heritage and social ties. In the tourist market, the Novosibirsk region is unknown as a gastronomic destination. Currently, the issue of the development of gastronomic tourism in the region is being actively discussed. The restaurant business is assigned one of the key positions in its development. This determined the purpose of the work – a theoretical study of the role of the restaurant industry in promoting regional gastronomic tourism in the Novosibirsk region. The study revealed that if the scale of the food industry in general and the restaurant business in particular in the Novosibirsk region are among the largest in the country, then the specific provision of catering establishments in the region remains low. The choice of restaurants that can satisfy the highest demands of a "true" gastroturist is not rich. Novosibirsk establishments have to focus only on Siberian cuisine, since there are no strong well-known regional food brands, the brand structure of the region is poor and not diversified. The restaurant industry of the Novosibirsk region first of all needs to overcome all the challenges of modern reality, strengthen its position not only in the domestic professional segment, but also try to make itself known internationally. It is possible that regional cuisine restaurants in the local market should take not quantity, but quality, be recognizable and associated with the image of the region, its natural and cultural-historical potential. This will allow restaurants to make a serious contribution to the formation of a regional tourist gastronomic brand and, as a result, the promotion of gastronomy in the region. Perhaps at the initial stage of the implementation of this type of tourism in the region, it should be developed not as a separate direction, but in combination with gastro-, agro-, eco-, ethnotourism.