Culinary tourism and wellness travel have existed for a number of years, but as both sectors mature, the intersection of the two has become more pronounced.
The popularity of wellness travel has surged in recent years as the public has become more tuned in to healthy living. And as Erik Wolf, president of the World Food Travel Association (WFTA), puts it, "One of the tenets of food tourism is that all travelers must eat and drink," wellness-minded travelers included.
Camille Hoheb
"Wellness is a lifestyle, so those that aspire to have a healthy lifestyle want to maintain their lifestyle on the road," said Camille Hoheb, president of Wellness Tourism Worldwide. "They're looking for [food] choices that are going to be nutritious, that are functional foods, that are going to be brain food."
Recognizing that intersection between food and wellness, the WFTA recently named Hoheb its first Southern California certified ambassador, charged with helping to further promote wellness and food tourism.
Both the WFTA and Wellness Tourism Worldwide offer courses certifying travel professionals like agents and tour operators in food and wellness tourism, respectively.
Wolf and Hoheb had already been working together informally for several years, but the interconnection of their sectors became more frequent, leading to Hoheb's ambassadorship.
Erik Wolf
"In our 2018 State of the Food Industry annual report, we identified wellness as one of those things that people should be paying attention to," Wolf said.
In her new post, Hoheb said she will help foster education among travelers and travel professionals.
"Moving forward, we're looking at how we can work with consumers and the travel trade to help educate them on the intersection of food and wellness travel," she said. "That can include a number of different things, such as agritourism, food tours, a better understanding of where your food is coming from."
In addition to educational initiatives, Hoheb said she will work with the WFTA to help destinations build food tourism programs with a wellness bent or wellness programs that have food as their cornerstone.
One project the WFTA is working on, a destination strategy project in Europe from the food and beverage tourism perspective, is an area where Wolf said he thinks Hoheb will be helpful.
"That is an opportunity for us to tap Camille and say, 'you know, let's lend your expertise to this,' and vice versa," he said.