NATURE AND NATURAL FOOD PRODUCTS IN FUTURE TOURIST’S PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Two years after Covid-19 outbreak, the trend of local movements in ecologically clean areas is continuing. Parallel with searching for nature, tourists renew old, almost forgotten, traditional nature-inspired recipes. This study investigates tourists’ attitudes towards natural areas, interest in natural products experiences and their preference to renovate traditional healthy food products and to be included in future food tourism offers. The study includes standard and ethnobotanical interviews aimed to show the stronger connection between tourists and nature compared to the previous period and its intention to mitigate and adapt to Covid-19 challenges. The results show continuous changes in tourist perspective related to nature and natural food products in general. The results were compared with previous research and show that tourists are still interested in natural boosters through natural food, staying in nature, and active involvement in natural product collecting, however, the focus has shifted from traditional medicinal plants to edible ones.