The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has declared Ubud as a world-class gastronomic tourist destination, after being proposed by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, according to reporting from Antara News.
“This is the first in Indonesia,” the ministry’s Deputy for Tourism Products and Activities Implementation Vinsensius Jemadu said on Thursday (14/12/23,) adding that the selection was made after observations and interactions with the community through solid collaboration among all stakeholders in the tourism area.
According to Jemadu, Ubud’s gastronomic tourism is not only about food or cuisine but also covers broader aspects, including history, local wisdom values, traditions, and lifestyles of the local community related to traditional food, which is why tourists will be able to experience and interact directly with the local community, say Antara News.
Jemadu drew attention to three stages that needed to be passed after going through a lengthy process since 2018, which was once interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The three stages are the analysis of Ubud’s gastronomic tourism, the creation of technical designs for future development, and the creation of a strategic action plan for implementing Ubud’s gastronomy tourism, report Antara News.
For the first stage, the Ubud gastronomic club has been formed as a forum for the development of the tourist attraction.
Antara News say UNWTO representative Patricia Carmona explained that Ubud deserved to be a gastronomic tourist destination due to its unique traditions, which are valuable and directly integrated with the concepts of nature, humans, and God or Balinese people’s local wisdom, namely Tri Hita Karana.
She further stated that as a gastronomic tourist destination, Ubud has diversified or enriched its tourism attractiveness in addition to being famous for its arts, culture, and nature, as well as becoming an inspiration for other regions in Indonesia, noting that Ubud has strong assets to become a premium gastronomic tourist destination.
Source: Antara News
