Marketing tools for promoting gastronomic brands in tourism

The development of a program for promoting specialized tourist products with gastronomic elements, at the stage of emerging demand requires the use of special marketing tools. The article reveals the marketing essence of the gastronomic tourist product and justifies the use of gastronomic branding as a fundamental tool for market positioning and promotion in a competitive market. An overview of the regional resource potential for discovering the recognizable regional gastronomic brands and gastronomic tourism practices substantiate the need to distinguish gastronomic tourism into an independent promising part of the industry. The results of the analysis of international experience in promoting gastronomic brands and products can be adapted to the conditions of the Russian Federation and used in building a national development concept of gastronomic tourism. The optimal form of marketing support for the gastronomic tourism development, taking into account the influence of current environmental factors, can be considered the creation of regional multifunctional digital platforms combining gastronomic tourism facilities into a single network, complete the tour program, promote finished products, and also enable the tourist to independently draw up a route based on individual preferences. It was shown that as accompanying marketing tools it is advisable to use: event calendars, regional exhibitions and fairs of gastronomic topics, independent positioning of gastronomic objects as centers of tourist attraction.