The World Food Travel Association (WFTA) was founded in 2003 as a non-profit, non-political, non-governmental organization (NGO), and today is regarded as the world’s leading authority on food and beverage tourism. Every year, the Association serves a community of nearly 150,000 people from 150 countries.
We are experts in culinary placemaking, a powerful tool for economic and community development, as well as in food tourism research, professional certification and the creation of valuable resources for business owners and entrepreneurs in the food and beverage tourism industry.
We work with our partners to leverage food and beverage to create a strong sense of place, thereby increasing visitor arrivals; destination brand equity; and export demand for their area’s food and beverage products.
We empower communities with tools to protect their unique culinary cultures and gastronomic heritage. And we promote our mission regularly to consumers and media all around the world.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to work with destination marketers and their stakeholders to facilitate the discovery and appreciation of unique culinary cultures by travelers.
OUR Vision
We strive to serve as the world’s leading hub of innovation and excellence in the preservation and promotion of culinary culture through the development of tourism initiatives and products.
CAUSES WE SUPPORT
An undercurrent in all our programs are additional causes that we support, namely the promotion of gastrodiplomacy, notably through our Ambassador network, and the reduction of food and beverage packaging waste, as evidenced in our industry partnerships and our messaging.
“It doesn’t cost the world to save the world.”™
- Erik Wolf, Executive Director, WFTA
Held the world's first global culinary tourism trade conference
Created the first official culinary travel guide for a US state (Oregon)
Created the first culinary travel guide ever published for the USA
Released our industry's first culinary travel market research report on American outbound travelers
Launched our industry's first culinary travel professional certification program
Launched our industry's first global culinary travel market research report
Introduced PsychoCulinary Profiling research methodology providing detailed psychographics
Published 'Have Fork, Will Travel' our industry's first trade handbook
Held FoodTreX Global, our first global online culinary travel trade summit
Launched 'Eat Well, Travel Better' our industry's first podcast dedicated to the business of culinary travel
Established World Food Travel Day annually on April 18, spreading awareness of our industry to consumers
Launched our industry's first culinary tourist guide & culinary tour operator certifications
Launched Food Travel Talk TV, our industry's first live culinary travel trade industry talk show
Launched our industry's first lifetime achievement award, now bestowed annually
DONATE TO THE WORLD FOOD TRAVEL ASSOCIATION SCHOLARSHIP FUND
Each year, the World Food Travel Association offers scholarships for our training and events to a certain number of applicants who demonstrate true financial need. To help us to continue to bring the gift of education to those in need, we need your help. Please donate any amount you wish. And even better, your donation may be tax deductible!
© World Food Travel Association | All rights reserved.
Pages not loading correctly? We do not recommend Safari.
Our website works best with Edge, Opera, Chrome, Brave or Firefox.