Relation between Traditional Food Products and Rural Tourism Development in Serbia

Rural development is crucial for overall national development in Serbia. Rural tourism can play a significant role in achieving sustainable rural development. For that it is necessary to be aware of factors and services that attract tourists to visit a rural area. The paper aims at analysing connection between tourists’ interest in typical and traditional food products of a rural area and interest for visiting it thus fostering rural tourism development. In particular the paper sheds light on the importance of traditional and typical food products in rural areas attractiveness. The study was carried out in two phases through two questionnaire surveys. In the first phase, with 251 field questionnaires, was examined consumers’ perception and interest in traditional food products, while in the second one, with 70 structured interviews, were analysed motivations for visiting rural areas. Both questionnaires were conducted in Serbia, in the period from July 2012 to March 2014. Results indicate a positive connection between interest for traditional food products and rural tourism development. In fact, results of the questionnaire survey show that almost 50% of the first phase surveyed Serbian people is very interested in typical products. Furthermore, attributes that people mostly associate to typical products are linked to tradition and support of local economy. Besides, there is a very high level of interest for visiting rural areas for tasting locally produced traditional food. These findings should be taken into consideration for the design of effective rural tourism development strategies and for better marketing of traditional products