ABSTRACT
The guiding principles of sustainable tourism are applicable to every form of tourism and to every type of destination, including the various niche segments, and mass tourism. Sustainable tourism should provide tourists with a high level of satisfaction, granting them a meaningful and culturally-rich experience and raising their awareness regarding sustainability practices. The problematic dimensions of sustainability have been emphasized, denoting a risk of ambiguity at a terminological level and a tendency to fail at the stage of its effective empirical implementation. The gastronomic tourism industry takes on the burden of championing this new way of doing enterprise, one of the most fertile lands on which to cultivate a renewed attitude of care towards the planet and the individuals. Sustainable gastronomic tourism is based on the acceptance of general principles of behavior by consumers and the local population, but conveys a series of paradoxes that risk negatively affecting the environmental resources that this very form of tourism intends to preserve.
