ABSTRACT
Food is a distinctive product that attracts tourists and is a symbol of cultural identity for a destination. Gastronomic tourism act as a differentiator that aids in attracting tourists to a destination. India has an array of food like its culture, and each destination has its own distinctive food products capable of being a branded tourism asset. Geographical Indications (GI) based branding is an emerging trend across the world after the introduction of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The aim of the current research is to analyze trends in the tagging of unique regional food products and how the existing food products with GI tagging have been promoted in India, a developing country. The findings show that states have added few GI food products and are far behind their potential, they are lacking in branding and promotion. It has also been found that gastronomic tourism has minor representation among tourism offerings.
