Food Tourism and Culture

Small Grant Scheme – Food and Drink Festivals and Events

The ambition is to bring together the areas of agriculture, food processing, tourism destinations, the food service sector, food festivals, and food retail outlets in order to capitalise on the economic benefits of providing visitors with a unique, high quality and distinctive cultural experience.  The objectives of the Small Grant Scheme – Food & Drink Festivals & Events are to:

  • Improve local and Visitor Access to Welsh Food and Drink
  • Raise awareness of Welsh Food and Drink with the wider community
  • Collaboration and co-operation between Food and Drink and Tourism sector
  • Recognition to Geographical Indication products, promote healthy eating

Recognition to Geographical Indication products, promote healthy eating.Only activities which clearly add value to the food and drink industry in Wales will be supported. 

Small Grant Scheme – Food and Drink Festivals and Events 2026-2027

Successful Food Festivals & Events 2026-27

Food and drink go hand in hand with hospitality and tourism in Wales. Combine quality seasonal food and local ingredients, interesting places to eat and stay, and some of the world's best chefs, and you define the hospitality sector in Wales with its deserved reputation for excellence.

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Food Tourism Toolkit.pdf
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Food Festival Toolkit

Food tourism

Food is important to our visitors

More and more, food is an important influence on people’s decision to visit Wales. It's because they are more discerning, and take an interest in where their food comes from and what happens on its journey to their plate. The 2 sectors of food and tourism are therefore particularly important in Wales, and we've developed complimentary strategies to develop both sectors. We want to build relationships between the hospitality and catering industry and local food and drink producers, and in this way make sure there is a constant supply of fresh, seasonal produce to cater for the visitor's every taste.
 

Food market

Boosting the image of Welsh food and drink

Food tourism is about helping visitors uncover our local, culinary gems – by championing the regional distinctiveness of our produce so that first-time visitors feel a connection to the area and want to return for second helpings. We've set out how we aim to achieve this by 2020 in our Partnership for Growth Strategy for Tourism, which defines a product-led approach to marketing, with food seen as integral to the visitor experience. The Food Tourism Action Plan 2014 targets key actions to raise awareness and make information readily available to visitors and to assist food producers and tourism businesses to work together.
 

Food stall

Farmers’ Markets and Food Events/ Success factors and lessons learnt

This research was commissioned to contribute to the development of a more in-depth understanding of the opportunities for food and drink businesses that choose to directly market their produce through farmers’ markets and/or other regular food events. The objective was also to identify factors that have been key to the success of established farmers’ markets and food events, as well as any lessons learnt.

The Final Report

 

Other useful information: