MASTER THESIS Developing Food Tourism through Partnership and Collaboration A CASE STUDY OF MADENS FOLKEMØDE - A FOOD EVENT ON LOLLAND-FALSTER, DENMARK BRYAN OLICIA PEDRO & QI FU SUPERVISOR: CARINA REN JUNE 2020 List of Figures Figure 1. Which activities do you do often on trips in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense or Aalborg? Figure 2. Diagram of research design Figure 3. The process of narrowing down research topics based on problem-based learning Figure 4. The large barn at Engestofte Gods, as a dinner venue for 2019 Madens Folkemøde Figure 5. The board of Madens Folkemøde Figure 6. Diagram of the FOOD - FOOD’s board and partners Figure 7: The relationship between the board of Madens Folkemøde and the FOOD Figure 8: Stakeholders’ map for Madens Folkemøde Figure 9: Stakeholder map for food festivals Figure 10: One propaganda post of Visit Lolland-Falster for Madens Folkemøde Figure 11: Guldrummet by Danish Crown at Madens Folkemøde Figure 12: DRC and REGA at Madens Folkemøde Figure 13: The good soil on Lolland-Falster Figure 14: People at Madens Folkemøde List of Tables Table 1: Profile of the interviewees Table 2: Three main expectations for collaboration among stakeholders at Madens Folkemøde Table 3: Madens Folkemøde: collaboration outcomes 1 Abstract The emerging literature on food events in rural areas highlights the growing interest among academic scholars, event organisers and development agencies in identifying the potential or actual outcomes of partnership and collaboration from food events. The purpose of this thesis aims to explore the collaborative relationships among stakeholders using the food event as a driver of tourism development in the region. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, the case study research approach and qualitative research method were chosen and applied. The case study method under a constructivist paradigm has been adopted in the thesis to investigate the perspectives of the participating stakeholders at Madens Folkemøde on the significance of collaboration in tourism development. The thesis begins to present the case of Madens Folkemøde in three aspects: tracing back to its historical and conceptual background; introducing the main categories of the event program; and looking at the distribution of authority. Also, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 stakeholders from the public and private sectors. In order to gain an understanding of the collaborative process, this thesis then explores the participatory involvement of stakeholders with a focus on stakeholders’ expectations; private-public collaboration; factors facilitating collaboration; collaboration challenges; and collaboration outcomes. The findings reveal several challenges for Madens Folkemøde in achieving future sustainable collaborative relationships in food events as a driver for tourism. The challenges arise associated with the collaboration processes such as communication, competition, misconception, trust and low commitment. Based on the perspective of stakeholders, this thesis adds to the literature on stakeholder’s collaboration and sustainable tourism development, by exploring how collaboration is linked to tourism using food events and providing evidence and examples of how stakeholders’ collaboration contributes to regional development. The findings of this thesis will be useful for researchers, practitioners and policymakers who interested in developing rural areas with food events through partnership and collaboration. By identifying the role of stakeholder in the collaboration, it is vital in all aspects of the thriving tourism industry and determining how food events are connected to enhancing tourism. This thesis has illustrated that collaboration, and tourism development initiatives are interrelated and interdependent. Key words: food tourism; food event; collaboration; stakeholders; regional development 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS THANK YOU: To our primary supervisor, Carina Ren, we are grateful for all of her effort throughout our several years as a student of AAU. We much appreciate your patience, insightful advice and friendly reassurance that despite a series of stressful work for our last semester, this thesis would get finished. We appreciate that Aalborg University has been helpful guidance and assistance in completing our thesis. It is the contribution of our research participants that made this thesis possible. We extend our sincere appreciation to all the participants in this research who gave their time and their expert knowledge and experience, thank you! We also acknowledge the Madens Folkemøde representatives; Mette Egeskov, Johan Borup Jensen and Pelle Øby Andersen for unwavering assistance during the entire process of thesis writing. Our appreciation goes to our friends and family. For always being there, supporting us and encouraging us to keep fighting even when we have been busy to reciprocate. 3 Table of Contents List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ 1 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. 1 Abstract .................................................................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. 3 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Background and the challenge....................................................................................................... 6 1.2 Significance of the project ............................................................................................................. 8 1.3 Research question ........................................................................................................................ 9 1.4 Structure of the study ................................................................................................................. 11 2 Literature review .................................................................................................................. 12 2.1 Regional branding ....................................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Food tourism .............................................................................................................................. 13 2.3 Stakeholder theory ..................................................................................................................... 14 Stakeholders’ identification in sustainable development........................................................................ 15 2.4 Role of partnership and collaboration ......................................................................................... 16 Madens Folkemøde as an alternative Community- based tourism (CBT) ............................................... 17 2.5 Summary .................................................................................................................................... 20 3 Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 21 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 21 3.2 Research paradigms .................................................................................................................... 21 Social constructivism ................................................................................................................................ 21 3.3 Research design .......................................................................................................................... 22 3.3.1 Case study of Madens Folkemøde .................................................................................................. 22 3.3.2 The case study approach ................................................................................................................. 22 3.4 Research methods ...................................................................................................................... 24 3.4.1 Qualitative in-depth interviews ...................................................................................................... 24 3.4.2 Documentary analysis ..................................................................................................................... 25 3.5 Data collection ............................................................................................................................ 26 3.5.1 Researchers’ reflection.................................................................................................................... 26 3.5.2 Purposive sampling ......................................................................................................................... 27 3.6 Ethical considerations ................................................................................................................. 28 3.7 Research trustworthiness ............................................................................................................ 28 3.7.1 Credibility .......................................................................................................................................