ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how perceptions can affect policy and strategy, vary the notion of regionality, and recalibrate food tourism's role in regional development. The island of Ireland is situated on the north-western edge of Europe, in the North Atlantic Ocean at similar latitude to Alaska in the United States and Hamburg in Germany. The primary objective of the National Tourism Development Authority in Ireland, a government organisation known as Failte Ireland, was to help the Irish tourism industry to cope and respond to the unprecedented challenges presenting themselves. As economic conditions improve both domestically and internationally, Failte Ireland is now focussing on generating growth and employment. In particular, the Irish tourism industry was in survival mode due to reduced tourism numbers allied with significantly reduced spending by consumers and visitors alike. As a result of the extensive research undertaken by the Tourism Recovery Taskforce (TRT), radical changes were initiated in the development and marketing of Irish tourism.
