Ski huts in Austria and their culinary offer: A question of quality versus quantity?

Austria ranks as the number one winter sports destination in Europe in terms of tourist numbers. Winter vacations are inextricably linked with culinary tourism when tourists decide to eat at ski huts. Many skiing destinations see in culinary offers a new opportunity for positioning themselves in this highly competitive market. Although they are places where guests share their common love of winter sports and traditional Austrian food, ski huts face several challenges related to changing customer demands and catering for large numbers of people. This often brings the quality of the food into question. This research focuses on ski huts located in the area of Salzburg and investigates (1) the role of traditional Austrian food offers and regional products (2) the challenges they face in terms of providing high-quality food for a large number of people. The study concludes that many Austrian skiing destinations show great potential for a better exploitation of their regional culinary offers and that mass production and providing high-quality food are not mutually exclusive.