Madrid Fusion Food from Spain This year will see the launch of a new forum to accommodate the 1st International Gastronomic Tourism Meeting. A single morning and afternoon session on Tuesday 29 March, organised by Madrid Fusión, Turium Institute y Taste Spain  which will be attended by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto. It will be held in Pavilion 14 of IFEMA, within the framework of Madrid Fusión-Food of Spain, and throughout the day different formats and spaces will focus on the important capacity of gastronomy as a driving force to generate first-class tourist destinations and experiences. An event that aims to become a meeting place where opinions and inspiring experiences will be shared and will serve as a space for reflection on the path to follow towards quality tourism.

On this day, tourism and gastronomic talent will merge to offer a different vision of the symbiotic relationship between the two disciplines. Some of the most renowned chefs who have made the leap into the world of hospitality and others whose excellence has created tourist destinations from their kitchens will share their vision and experiences. Joan Roca (El Celler de Can Roca***, Girona) will be in charge of inaugurating this new forum, accompanied by the general director of Vocento Gastronomía, Benjamín Lana. Pedro Subijana (Akelarre***, San Sebastián), Artur Martínez, chef at Aürt*, the restaurant of the Hotel Hilton Diagonal in Barcelona, and Paco Pérez (Miramar**, Llançà, Girona) will speak about hotel chefs beyond the gastronomic hotel, in a round table that will be moderated by Germán Jiménez, general director of Turium Institute.

As a cultural exponent, a transmitter of traditions and a generator of value, gastronomy is one of the main ingredients of an increasingly experiential tourism that seeks contact with the authentic, the sustainable and the local. The case of Peru and its gourmet experience as a tourist attraction is another of the sessions programmed, led by one of the most important chefs in the world, Gastón Acurio (Astrid & Gastón, Lima) and the great reference point for gastronomic criticism in Latin America, the journalist Ignacio Medina. In another of the round tables, Mª Dolores Corujo, President of the Cabildo of Lanzarote; Toni Bernabé, Director General of the Tourism Institute of Valencia and Ana Redondo, Councillor for Culture and Tourism of Valladolid will discuss the work and strategy carried out in their provinces as destinations at the forefront of gastronomy. The Taste Spain gastronomic experience will also form part of the programme in another of the sessions.

Santiago Rodríguez, general manager of Nobu Hospitality, will explain the transformation of the hotel chain as a gastronomic benchmark in a global lifestyle brand. For his part, Quique Dacosta (Quique Dacosta Restaurant***) will take the case of Dénia to the stage of the International Gastronomic Tourism Meeting and will explain, together with the journalist Jesús Trelis, how excellence can become a tourist ingredient.

Gastronomy as a tourist destination will be the theme of the round table that will close the day, with Jesús Sánchez (Cenador de Amós***), Samuel Moreno (Molino de Alcuneza*) and Enrique Valero (Abadía Retuerta Le Domaine*) and will be moderated by the Malaga journalist Esperanza Peláez. They will discuss the success stories of two small towns, Villaverde de Pontones in Cantabria, Alcuneza-Sigüenza in Guadalajara and Sardón de Duero, in Valladolid, where gastronomy has become the best ally of tourism.

A dynamic day in which interviews, success stories, presentations and debates will allow you to travel with the most relevant visionaries on the national and international scene.

PROGRAMME OF THE 1ST INTERNATIONAL GASTRONOMIC TOURISM MEETING