Page 7 - aruba-today-20221230

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local Friday 30 december 2022
Oranjestad to be next Culinary Capital of the Caribbean

ORANJESTAD – With great is tied to four essential cri- nations a series of benefits WFTA wants to achieve this ers of touristic products that
enthusiasm, minister Geof- teria. These are culinary including an entire year of same success for countries travel specifically to des-
frey Wever in charge of the culture, culinary strategy, marketing and strategy ac- less-known for their culi- tinations that offer a local
revitalization of Oranjestad culinary promotion and cu- tivities. nary authenticity. Small and unique gastronomic
said that soon the process linary community – neces- countries like Aruba, and experience, and these are
will start to obtain the title sary criteria to determine if Culinary destinations that specially our city center the consumers that minister
of Culinary Capital award- the destination has what is are more well-known like Oranjestad, need all the Geoffrey Wever wants to
ed under the international necessary to convert into San Francisco, Hong Kong advantages offered by attract to our city center. q
program World Food Travel a Culinary Capital. WFTA and Paris benefitted from the Culinary Capital title.
Association, and after- offers the accredited desti- such recognition, and There is a pool of consum-
wards for City of Gastrono-
my under the international
UNESCO program, City of
Gastronomy.

Such titles will surely put
Aruba on the international
map and attract new and
exclusive visitors to the city
center in Oranjestad. An
exercise that must give our
investors more commer-
cial opportunity and make
Oranjestad a new attrac-
tion for locals and tourists.

What precisely is a culinary
capital and how will this
create new opportunities?
The World Food and Travel
Association (WFTA), the
main authority worldwide
regarding gastronomic
tourism, designed this new
program launched in 2021
to help regenerate inter-
est in destinations that are
not well-known for their
high-quality and authentic
gastronomic products and
experiences.

After the Covid pandem-
ic, world destinations and
all businesses are trying
to innovate and prepare
for economy after Covid.
Saying this, minister Wever
thinks that as the govern-
ment of Aruba they also
need to innovate and
adapt to the world econo-
my after Covid. The partici-
pation of the government
is essential if we want to
achieve the revitalizaiton
of our city center, and
applying for the status of
Culinary Capital is a nec-
essary action to innovate
and create an elevated
product Aruba. Aruba as
a destination is one of two
countries to recover fast-
est. However, our city cen-
ter still has not managed
to capitalize on the fruits of
Aruba’s success as a tourist
destination.

The process to arrive to
the Culinary Capital title