Gastronomy, Cheese, and the Contributions of Maketing to Territorial Identity

Abstract

Tourism is an activity strongly characterized by different motivations and specific interests. In this sense, tourist destinations and territorial stakeholders are paying attention to attributes (e.g. gastronomic heritage) as a preponderant element of territorial management and brand awareness (e.g. city marketing, place marketing, internal marketing, relationship marketing). Cheese tourism has been of particular interest to the marketing and tourism academic community. Portugal, and “Queijo da Serra” in particular, is a tourist product much appreciated by visitors and an important destination brand attribute in the Portuguese context. The chapter aims to present a brief theoretical and exploratory reflection of this product for the niche tourism literature (specifically, cheese tourism). From an embryonic perspective, the chapter presents insights for tourism, internal marketing and territorial management.