Culinary Travel: It’s Sizzling
Noticing the growth in popularity of television cooking shows and culinary travel and the increasing amount of Americans choosing travel destinations based upon the concept of cuisine, Chris Donnelly, owner of the Vermont-based “Sugar Tours”, was inspired to launch and develop a company dedicated to providing food-oriented travel options to those with a taste for the culinary.
In February 2007, the Travel Industry Association released a first-of-its-kind national survey on the culinary travel niche market. The survey, conducted by Edge Research, revealed that 27 million travelers had engaged in culinary or wine-related activities within the past three years. It also suggested that travelers are motivated by unique experiences. These results reinforce Donnelly’s belief in a need for a culinary-minded company that would bring out each destination’s unique environmental and cultural elements. This idea was the impetus for Sugar Tours’ culinary excursions program.
Donnelly began exploring new program ideas, and in 2003, “Vermont: A Week of Fine Foods” was born. In 2005, the company introduced “Lobsters, Wineries, and Fine Foods” – a succulent adventure through New England. Both programs were created for Elderhostel in Boston and are being offered again for the 2008 season. Since then, Sugar Tours has set six additional programs in motion which, due to their immense popularity, have been consistently filled. According to Donnelly, “The idea of a culinary tour is not just a visit to a culinary school for a meal or to a winery for a wine tasting; it’s more about a total experience. If you visit a Rhode Island winery, you don’t just do a tour and tasting – add a traditional Rhode Island clambake along with the tasting.
Donnelly has established working relationships with many of the Northeast’s specialty food producers such as a water buffalo dairy, an organic cheese maker, and several boutique wineries; these have all been incorporated into his palatable programs. Two of Sugar Tours’ popular offers include a six-night culinary adventure of New England and a two night package in Vermont entitled “Country Inn Cooking Weekends”. You may also want to enjoy a famed “Celebrity Chef Weekend” at the Opryland Hotel, in Nashville, Tennessee, which features such noteworthy chefs as Alton Brown and Bobby Flay.
Additional upcoming program locations include Philadelphia, PA; New York, NY; Boston, MA, and California.
Donnelly’s interest in culinary travel stems from many years of experience in the fine-dining industry in select establishments along the East Coast. Donnelly seasoned his expertise at Cinelli’s Country House in Cherry Hill, New Jersey where he perfected the art of tableside and fine dining. Donnelly also worked for a number of years at The Hermitage Inn in Wilmington, Vermont alongside former owner and proprietor, James McGovern. The Hermitage has been acclaimed for its stellar wine selection every year since 1984 by the Wine Spectator Magazine Awards; it also won the “Distinguished Restaurants of North America Award”. During his time with McGovern, Donnelly gained an extensive knowledge of fine wines from around the globe. He is currently active within several travel organizations and has been featured as a speaker on culinary travel at The Boston Globe Travel Marketplace’s ‘Taste for Travel’ and at the International Culinary Tourism Association Symposium in Sturbridge, MA.
For more information on Creative Culinary Tours contact Donnelly at (888) 889-8681 or e-mail vttours@sover.net.