Slow food events as a high yield strategy for rural tourism destinations The case of Bario, Sarawak Samuel Folorunso Adeyinka-Ojo and Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts, Taylor’s University, Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Malaysia Abstract Purpose – For years, the community in Bario has chosen to organize a slow food and cultural festival annually to draw tourists to Bario. The aim of this paper is to explore the staging of slow food events as a high-yield strategy for rural tourism destinations and how they can be used to move a destination up the value chain in responsible rural tourism practices. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopted an interpretative approach. Participant observation and 15 in-depth interviews with local and foreign tourists were conducted to elicit responses before, during and after the event. In addition, photography and videography were also employed. Findings – Findings revealed that the event was seen by many as a catalyst for the provision and development of infrastructural development. More importantly, 67 percent of the foreign tourists interviewed state that the price of goods and services at the event are reasonable and affordable, given the unique cultural experience during the festival in Bario. These findings imply that such an event has potential in generating higher yield for a rural destination. However, findings also show that the event could be better marketed and managed. Originality/value – A significant contribution of this study is its exploration of the use of slow food events in a rural destination as a strategy in generating high yield for a rural tourism destination. Keywords Responsible rural tourism, Bario, Slow food event, Value chain, Sustainable high yield, Rural areas, Tourism, Malaysia Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction In Malaysia, tourism has emerged as the third largest income source. As a result, tourism is being used as a means of sustaining the rural economy. However, rural tourism destinations are operating in a highly competitive tourism marketing environment with few differentiating characteristics. Therefore, having a different and core product that is locally and culturally rooted in developing a destination can help the destination’s tourism activities. In addition, it can reposition a local place to become more distinctive and develop its own unique selling proposition (Haven-Tang and Jones, 2005) compared with other rural destinations. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1755-4217.htm The funding for this project was made possible through a research grant obtained from the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia (MOHE) under the Long Term Research Grant Scheme (LRGS), 2011. Reference No. JPT.S (BPKI) 2000/09/01/015JId.4(67). Slow food events 353 Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes Vol. 5 No. 4, 2013 pp. 353-364 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1755-4217 DOI 10.1108/WHATT-03-2013-0012