A VILLAGE OF HIGH FERMENTATION: BREWING CULTURE-BASED FOOD TOURISM IN WATOU, WEST FLANDERS, BELGIUM

Abstract

In the paradigm of post-production, food tourism is developing as a phenomenon of rural
restructuring in some areas, especially in Western countries. The framework of food tourism
is an expanded version of conventional rural tourism, which includes not only local food and
gastronomy but also the culture and traditions of that area. In the last two decades, food
tourism has attracted attention in various fields, including geography and tourism, as a form
of sustainable tourism, making use of local resources. This paper uses a case study of tourism
in Watou, a rural village in West Flanders, Belgium, to explore the relation between a
traditional brewing culture and sustainable rural tourism. The research method consisted of
gathering data through fieldwork, which included investigations of the distribution of tourist
attractions and land use, and analysing the data from a geographical perspective. Through
analysis and discussion, we found that in Watou there is a multiplex of food tourism, which
consists of rural tourism, agritourism, slow food tourism and gastronomic tourism, and that
tourists consume tourism resources, which are themed to the traditional brewing culture in
each kind of tourism. The results show that food tourism in Watou, which connects these
subareas with one another, leads to the preservation of rurality and to the sustainability and
the revitalisation of the village.