Using local food and drink to differentiate tourism destinations through a sense of place: A story from wales-dining at Monmouthshire's great table

The importance of using local food and drink to develop a "Sense of Place," create a unique visitor experience and differentiate tourism destinations while providing economic benefits to the local community cannot be underestimated. This paper will present research commissioned by Adventa, Monmouthshire's LEADER + programme, which was designed to develop a Sense of Monmouthshire training module aimed at tourism businesses in Monmouthshire. While the training module specifically focuses on Monmouthshire there are generic lessons about the use of local food and drink. A "Sense of Place" can be used to exploit the unique attributes of a destination, but it needs to be selectively customised by individual businesses to exploit the distinctive social and cultural characteristics of a destination and provide a unique visitation experience. Through an integrated and holistic approach to tourism development the Sense of Monmouthshire training module should help to extend the tourism season, enhance quality, develop community pride and preserve Monmouthshire's identity.