PILOT IN KRAKOW
POLAND
The pilot in Krakow focused on sustainable tourism. Starting from the idea to create a "Slow District” in the historical center (as written in the Tourism Development Strategy in Krakow for 2014-2020), through a participatory process led by the City, food retailers, cooks, and citizens' organizations were engaged to jointly promote the local GCH by realizing coordinated activities around traditional spaces where food is enjoyed or bought.
The final result was the creation of a full gastronomic heritage tourist product of Krakow, to diversify city’s tourist offer and encourage tourists to explore new areas and dimensions of touristic space. It focused not just on the Old Town, heavily penetrated by tourists, but also on other 4 city zones identified as particularly interesting in relation to local food gastronomy: Kazimierz-Podgórze, Kleparz, Plac Centralny and Błonia. The new tourist product consists of a set of 6 regional products (Krakow Celtuce, Obwarznek Krakowski, Ojcowski Trout, Piaszczańska Sausage, Galican Garlik, Prądnicki bread) that illustrate the rich gastronomic history of the City of Krakow. One of all, the Krakow Celtuce/Krakowski głąbik, that has been reintroduced to the municipal gastronomy after it was almost forgotten. Around these products, offers and recommendations for tourists, proposals of gastronomic trails and tours to visit the city and the region, including a map, were developed.
Krakow as European Capital of Gastronomic Culture 2019 was used as an asset during the implementation and communication of the overall pilot action.
