“This conference is UNESCO’s first time to be organised specifically on Gastronomy,” the municipality said in an announcement posted online yesterday (Nov 1).
Phuket City Municipality was selected from among 49 member cities of the UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network in 30 countries around the world, the announcement explained.
In the end, Phuket won out against other finalists Shunde District in Foshan City, Guangdong province, China, and Buraydah in Saudi Arabia.
The announcement praised Phuket CIty Mayor Saroj Angkhanapilas and his team for their winning bid to host the event.
“This success came from the cooperation of Phuket City Municipality, the Southern Region branch of the Thailand Exhibition and Convention Bureau (TCEB), along with the government and the private sector, jointly planning, creating content and presenting the potential, readiness, and identity of being a creative city in the field of food science, as a City of Gastronomy,” the announcement concluded.
Phuket was designated a ‘City of Gastronomy’ under UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network in 2015 ‒ at the time becoming the first city in Thailand, and Asean, to join 18 cities in the world recognised with the distinction.
There are currently 49 cities in the world bestowed ‘City of Gastronomy’ status.
UNESCO yesterday (Nov 1) admitted 55 more locations to the Creative Cities Network. Among them were City of Gastronomy newcomers Battambang (Cambodia), Chaozhou (China), Fribourg (Switzerland), Gangneung (South Korea), Herakleion (Greece), Iloilo City (Philippines) and Nkongsamba (Cameroon).