• Dr VINOD SINGH NEGI

Tourism is the largest service industry globally in terms of gross revenue as well as foreign exchange earnings. In India, Uttarakhand state is famed for its heritage tourism because of its most famous shrines at Haridwar and Rishikesh in the plains and the Char Dhams (Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri) in the hills. It also has a large forest area, famous for wildlife sanctuaries and well-known hill stations. Tourism research has been traditionally focused on the demand side of tourist motivation and behavioral patterns to discover why tourists visit particular destinations. Garhwal owes its popularity because it features the ‘Chaar-dhaam’ of the sacred Hindu pilgrimage and hence is known as ‘Devbhoomi’ or God’s Land. The food of the region is simple and earthy in presentation, but heavenly in taste. In the recent years, there have been widespread changes in demand of modern day tourist. The increase in disposable income and low cost travel has changed the tourist demand pattern, which led to tough competition between tourist destinations. The high attitude mountain gifted five major rivers as Ganga, Yamuna, Western Ganga and Kali apart from smaller ones. The modern day tourist desires to visit newer and more exotic destination. Destination’s local food is one among the unique feature that attracts tourist’s attention while they are selecting their place of visit. Gastronomy is becoming an important factor in increasing the chances of a destination to be selected by the tourists. Food related experiences of the tourist are becoming more and more significant in destination planning. Despite this increasing attention, however, systematic research on the subject is almost negligible. The purpose of this paper is to acquire elaborate knowledge about the Garhwali cuisine and examine the role of cuisine in attracting the tourist to visit various destinations of Garhwali region, which includes area like Chamoli, Pauri, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Dehradun, Haridwar and Rudraprayag in the Garhwal region. A survey of available literature on Garhwali cuisine was carried out to obtain adequate knowledge about cuisine. The empirical objectives of the study are to find out the tourist perceptions on status of Pahari Cuisine in Uttarakhand, who are visiting in various tourist sites. The studies also analyze the government and local community participation in promotion of local food. The role of cuisine in attracting tourists was addressed using survey method for collecting desired data from tourist visiting the area.

Garhwali Cuisine, Food tourism, tourist destination culinary tourism, Potential for tourism.

"Review of Tourist Experiences on Garhwali Cuisine as Haritage Tourism: - A Case Study of Garhwal Region, Uttarakhand", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 2, page no.a703-a710, February-2023, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2302091.pdf

"Review of Tourist Experiences on Garhwali Cuisine as Haritage Tourism: - A Case Study of Garhwal Region, Uttarakhand", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 2, page no. ppa703-a710, February-2023, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2302091.pdf