Introduction

1As a result of the evolution of tourism over time, new types of tourism and stakeholders emerge, integrating olive farming and olive oil production into this business (Alonso, 2010). In Portugal, tourism related to olive groves and olive oil is referred to as Olivoturismo, and the same terminology can be used as in Spain, Oleoturismo, following the Latin prefix for the olive tree "Olea europaea, L." (Fernandez et al., 2019).

2The Olive Oil Tourism as a subcategory of Cultural Tourism / Gastronomic Tourism, has recently caught the attention of researchers in the field of tourism marketing and management (Alonso and Krajsic, 2013; Hernández-Mogollón et al., 2019), revealing a huge potential for experience-level cross-selling (Alonso, 2010).

3This concept was defined as "a form of tourism which includes experiences such as: visiting to olive oil production sites and staying at local accommodations, attending culinary courses on olive oil-based, buying olive oil, trekking on olive oil routes” (Manisa et al., 2013, pp. 12, 16). Also, Pulido-Fernández et al. (2018, p. 1624) mentioned oleotourism as a “special interest tourism and derives from three types of general interest tourism (rural, nature and cultural) with connections to other specific types of tourism” and Nunes, (2014) believes that this kind of synergy, boosts business competitiveness, territory development and experience authenticity.

4Based on Spanish best practices, Millán et al. (2018, p.101) detailed several kinds of olive oil tourism experiences, such as “visitors can enjoy landscapes of ancient olive groves and visit its oil mills called ‘almazaras’, to learn about its manufacture and to taste different oil varieties”, a very similar experience to those of wine tourism.

5So, the starting question is: “what really matters on the Olive Oil Tourism Experience (OOTE)?” The present study examines the OOTE literature by considering a systematic and structured analysis of relevant research. The section 2 gives an overview of OOTE concepts and models. Then, the subsequent section details the methodology used to gather and done the literature review, which is appraised and examined in section 4. The discussion is then accessible in section 5, while future research direction in olivotourism is presented in section 6. Conclusions are drawn in the final section.

I. Overview on Olivotourism: history, territory & tourism

A. Olive oil: a long history of production

6Olive oil is derived from the fruit of the evergreen tree Olea europaea, which grows in temperate climates with warm and dry summers. The olive tree, Olea europaea L., is originated in the eastern Mediterranean basin (Figure 1), in the Neo-Chalcolithic period, and the extraction of oil from the olive tree, az-zait, in the Bronze Age (Şahi̇n and Aydin, 2017). According Tannahill (1973), around 5,000 or 6,000 years ago, the olive trees dominate the country sides of Palestine, Syria, and other areas of the Middle East. The map shows the three biggest waves in the cultivar diffusion. The trees became cultivated and their fruit (green that ripens to brown or to blue-purple-black) was laden with oil.

7The olive tree and olive oil are elements often associated with Greek mythology, art, religion, health and well-being and food, and are at the origin of commercial and cultural exchanges between Mediterranean civilizations since antiquity. That oil – technically a fruit oil rather than a vegetable oil, as it is classified – doubtless was used to fuel lamps, and it found its way into medicines and cosmetics as well as cooking. The many uses for oil created much demand in the ancient world, which was satisfied by oils made from walnuts, almonds, and the seeds of sesame, flax, and radishes, as well as from olives (Tannahill, 1988). Caldas, (1998) referred the oldest book about the planting, harvesting and pressing of olives in Hispania "De Agri Cultura" by Catos de Elder, from 2nd century BC.

8In the Iberian Peninsula, the olive tree was introduced by the Phoenicians around 900 BC (Paquete, 2013) motivated by the flourishing of the metals industry in the Mediterranean. To promote trade, the Phoenicians “gave the necessary technological impetus, teaching the art of cultivating indigenous plants such as the vine, the olive tree and the carob tree. Also, the first improved cereal mills, the wine and olive oil extraction presses would have been of Phoenician inspiration” (Caldas, 1998, p.31).

9Nowadays, the International Olive Oil Council (IOC), defined olive oil as the product obtained from the fruit of the olive tree extracted solely by physical processes. Olives are sometimes picked by hand because they, and the twigs they grow upon, are fragile. However, because the fruit should be all the same size and degree of ripeness, the same tree might be picked several times, all of which significantly increases the price of the oil (Toussaint-Samat, 1992). In addition to its unique sensory properties, it adds value to the final product and contributes to conferring new nutritional qualities, due to its lipid profile rich in essential fatty acids and bioactive compounds (Beraldo et al.,2020).

10In the Portuguese territory, olive groves are scattered and concentrated on the right bank of the Tagus River, towards the south of Portugal, springing up around villages, and mills, installed close to water courses (Caldas, 1998). Olive oil was deeply rooted to the bases of food and with health benefits, as well as for purposes of lighting and lubrication of machines (Paquete, 2013).

11Portugal is in fourth place in the ranking of the largest producer at European level, with 6 Regions of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO): Trás-os-Montes, Beira Baixa, Ribatejo, Moura, Alentejo Interior and Norte Alentejo (Figure 2). The PDO classification comes from the olive varieties, picking conditions, transport to the mill, working conditions and characteristics of the final product. Bezerra and Correia (2019) mention the existence of some references to Olivotourism in Portugal, with a special focus on the Alentejo region, perhaps because it was the pioneer region in promoting tourism related to olive groves and olive oil.

12Today, 90% of the world’s olives go into oil, and only 2% of the acreage given over to olive production is outside of the Mediterranean region (Fraga et al., 2021). In terms of volume, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Portugal are the largest producers, although much of their olive oil is not reflected in production figures because there are many people with just a few trees who pick their own olives and take them to local cooperatives to be pressed. Spain holds the title of the world's largest producer of olive oil, contributing 1,790,000 tons, which accounts for one-third of the global production (GPP, 2020). As noted by Murgado (2013), this positions the country favourably to leverage olive oil in the tourism sector. The author also emphasizes that, from a scientific perspective, there has been limited focus on this tourism activity due to its early stages of development.

13In Portugal, Alentejo displays 89% of national production in 2022, and the Norte region with only 6% (Table 1). According INE (2023), in Portugal exists 455 mills.

Table 1 - Portugal - Olive Oil production

year	Geographic Location	Olive Oil Production (hl)
2022	Portugal	1 377 529
	Entre Douro e Minho	1 044
	Trás-os-Montes	79 317
	Beira Litoral	21 761
	Beira Interior	16 678
	Ribatejo e Oeste	36 785
	Alentejo	1 221 321
	Algarve	623
	Açores	0
	Madeira	0

Source: INE (2023)

14Olive groves are vital for regional development and contribute to the territory cohesion, with implications for the local economy, generating employment and playing an important role in cultural landscape safeguard and identity (Fleskens et al., 2009).

B. Olive Oil tourism: concepts

15As a result of the leisure evolution, new types of tourism and stakeholders emerge, integrating olive farming and olive oil production in this business (Alonso, 2010). The concept of Olivotourism is very recent, and several authors have contributed to its evolution (Table 2), highlighting several perspectives such as Demand, Supply, Tourism and Cultural, Wine tourism, Gastronomy, Industrial and Rural Development.

16This form of tourism stands out as an alternative to traditional tourism, considered as "a form of tourism that includes activities such as visits to olive oil production sites and accommodation in these places, cooking courses on olive oil-based dishes, purchase of olive oil, trekking and rest on olive oil routes, and information visits that provide information about olive oil culture and production techniques from the past to the present” (Manisa et al., 2013, p. 12, 16).

Table 2 - Olive Oil Tourism conceptual evolution

Hwang and Quadri-Felitti (2021, p.3-13)	“Olive oil tourism can be considered sustainable tourism due to its contribution to the local economy by synchronizing the interests of visitors, the environment, and the local community”, p3; “Since vineyards and olive groves share geographical areas (…) olive oil and wine tourism may create a synergistic effect in the local economy” p.11; “olive oil tourism and wine tourism managers may need to work closely together.” p.13
Parrilla-González et al., (2020, p.3)	“Olive Oil Tourism is an intangible, sustainable element, insofar as tourism linked to agricultural activities is based on sustainability, respect for the environment and awareness about a society with certain values linked to the land”
Bezerra and Correia (2019, p.69)	“To extend olive oil-related experiences to creative tourism, visitors need to have the opportunity to interact more with the local host community, to have more active participation in these activities, while developing their creative potential offering them memorable and engaging experiences.”
Pulido-Fernandez et al. (2019, p.5)	“Olive Oil Tourism is part of gastronomic tourism.”
Campón-Cerro et al. (2014, p.70)	“(…) olive oil can be considered a fundamental resource and an effective tool for new initiatives of local development.” (…) The link between olive oil culture and tourism seems to reveal an interesting proposal for the tourism development of the olive grove zones.”
Millán et al. (2014, p.181-184)	“One way to develop oleotourism is to market it, protected by a designation of origin that creates a tourist route that informs about the quality of the oil and its production process, and provides oil tastings” p181; "There are differences and similarities between the profile of enotourists and oleoturists. Their demographic profiles, their way of organizing the trip, their behavior in the destination and the determinants of their satisfaction are similar, but not their economic profiles and the expenditure they make in the destination." "Both in wine tourism and in oleoturism tourists complain of the lack of complementary activities."P184
Murgado (2013, p.100)	“Oleotourism is a set of activities that revolve around oil. (…) olive oil tourism also includes cultural activities related to nature, which immerse the visitor in local culture of the environment and territory”; “In the case of olive oil, it is necessary to design tourist products based on experiences to enrich the act of product consumption.”

Source: Own production based on the cited authors

17Several authors connect the Olive Oil Tourism with other tourism experiences, such as: Gastronomy (Şahin and Aydin, 2017; De Salvo et al., 2013; Murgado, 2013); Rural Tourism (Campón-Cerro et al., 2017, Millán et al., 2014) Enotourism (De Salvo et al., 2013; Hwang and Quadri-Felitti, 2021;). Olive Oil Tourism as Wine Tourism has huge potential to involve communities, develop territories, and build co-creative experiences, fighting against seasonality. Murgado (2013), proposed a diverse array of experiences in rural areas, ranging from the most traditional to more creative and immersive options. These include activities such as visiting oil mills, indulging in olive oil spas, participating in olive oil tastings, purchasing olive oil, exploring olive routes, discovering ancient olive trees, engaging in gastronomic experiences, visiting oil museums, exploring specialty shops, attending popular festivals and fairs, and appreciating the landscape.

18So, the Olive Oil Tourism involves activities linked to olive groves and olive oil, combining culture, nature, heritage and gastronomy. Olive groves and olive oil as a tourist product, is not included in the Tourism of Portugal Strategy 2027 [ET27], even though it mentions the authenticity of Portuguese products as an anchor, namely olive oil, wine, cork and footwear. In this sense, Olive Oil Tourism has conditions to be equally integrated in the active “Gastronomy and Wines”, as one of the qualifying assets to lead Portugal to the sustainability and competitiveness of as a destination.

II. Methodology

19In order to identify scientific contributions in the Olive Oil Tourism research area, the present study adopted a systematic literature review (SLR) approach. A SLR employs a specific methodology in order to limit bias, but “will not completely eliminate it” (Pickering and Byrne, 2014, p. 546), producing a scientific summary of the evidence collected in one or more academic domains such as, business and management, arts and humanities among others (Petticrew and Roberts, 2006). As a result, a SLR can provide the most relevant information in the research field as it assists the researcher to prioritize and organize the data to be analysed (Sedarati et al., 2018). A SLR should provide comprehensive, objective and replicable data which can be analysed (Weed, 2006). The authors gathered data through an electronic search for scientific research-published articles via the SCOPUS engine (Figure 3).

20The data analysis was conducted concurrently with the data collection process. The term used for the data reduction process was “Olive Oil tourism” or “Olivotourism” or “Oleotourism”. A set of criteria was established in order to select pertinent publications (conference papers, articles) in peer-reviewed journals: (i) being indexed in the electronic search database SCOPUS; (ii) approaching Olive Oil Tourism and experiences in the context of Territory, Supply/Demand, Residents, Stakeholders; (iii) being written in English. The selected articles were filtered through a comprehensive reading of the journal articles’ abstracts to ascertain the documents’ context and relevance.

21A total of 85 articles were collected, with their titles and abstracts analysed before determining which paper would be read and included in the review. Next, the reading process required skimming through the titles, abstracts, keywords, first paragraphs and text from relevant sections. The articles considered are only those published in internationally peer-reviewed journals, which exclude books, chapters in books and conference proceedings. Articles with limited access or irrelevant to the study were not used. Through reading the full text more comprehensively, the compilation of selected articles is much streamlined. The following stage was to choose and eliminate papers that did not fulfil the search conditions (26 papers).

22Subsequently, the researchers were left with 59 operational research articles, beginning with the up-to-date research published in 2003 to recognise the fresh OOTE execution in the literature. This step helped highlight the pattern within the Olive Oil Tourism works based on current and past tourism conducts. These articles were processed via the content analysis assessment, categorised into as: author, year, article title, name of journal, perspective (S-supply, D-demand, R-Residents, ST-Stakeholders, T-Territory), main issue, territory, goals, methodology, and results.

III. Research Analyses Results

23This section details the 59 papers, conferring to different descriptive and content analysis categories.

A. Research Analysis - Papers per year vs authors vs affiliation

24Until 2003 the survey did not reveal any published articles about olive oil production or tourism. The first paper relating olive oil tourism and rural development was published in 2010 in the “Mundo Agrario, 11(21)” with the title “The oiltourism as an engine for rural development. The denomination of montoro-adamuz”. The number of publications on olive oil tourism and experiences increased at a very slow pace until 2017, when six papers were published in distinct scientific journals (Figure 4).

25Between 2017 and 2023, 45 articles were published, meaning that 76% of the sample was published in this period.

26Several journals support the most publications, such as “International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science”, “Journal of Tourism Development”, “Tourism and Hospitality Management”, “Sustainability”.

27The most ten relevant authors (in terms of number of papers) are Vásquez de la Torre, M. G (10), Hernández-Mogollón, J.M. (7), Campón-Cerro, A.M. (6), Carrillo-Hidalgo, I. (6), Casado-Montilla, J. (6), Folgado-Fernández, J.A. (6), Pulido-Fernández, J.I. (6), Di-Clemente, E. (5), Dancausa-Millán, M.G. (5) and Cuadra, S.M. (4).

B. Research Analysis – Authors affiliation and research territories

28The Figure 5 highlights Spain through Cordoba (17) and Jaen (15) Universities with more investigation in olive oil tourism.

29But other countries are developing this issue (Figure 6) such as Spain with 37 documents; Portugal (5), Croatia (4), Italy (4), Greece (3), Cyprus (2), Australia (1), Austria (1), Brazil (1) and United States (1).

C. Research Analysis – subject area and sponsoring

30The most popular subject areas are integrated in Social Sciences; Business, Management and Accounting; Environmental Science; Agricultural and Biological Sciences; Economics, Econometrics and Finance; Arts and Humanities; Energy and Engineering.

31The primary sponsors of research funding are as follows: European Regional Development Fund (25%); European Commission (17%), Junta de Extremadura (13%) and Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (8%).

D. Research Analysis – Main Issues

32The key aspects concerning olive oil tourism (Figure 7) include "experience," "special interest tourism," "gastronomy," "territory development," and the "olive tourist profile."

E. Olive Oil Tourism Content Discussions

33From the 5 perspectives analysed (Table 3), 75% of the articles were examined from the demand side, followed by the territory (45%). The perspectives of residents (8%) and stakeholders (5%) were the least studied by the authors.

3463% of the studies focus on Spain, aligning with the fact that Spain is the world's largest producer of olive oil.

35Authors predominantly use qualitative methodology (34%), and 20% employ both methodologies (qualitative and quantitative). Regarding abstracts, 25% of articles do not mention methodologies.

36Some of data analysis used in these studies are descriptive statistics (surveys), narrative analysis (observation, interviews), content analysis, Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), SARIMA model, Importance-Performance (I-P) analysis, structural equations modelling, ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average) model.

Table 3. Typology of 59 studies with detail description of the perspective, country and methodology.

Year	Authors	Perspective	Country	Methodology
2003	Loumou & Giourga	Territory	x	x
2010	Vasquez De La Torre et al	Demand	Spain	x
2011	Vasquez De La Torre et al	Demand	Spain	x
2011	Molina-Moreno et al	Territory	x	x
2011	Tourlouki et al	Residents	Greece	x
2013	De Salvo et al	Territory	Italy, Spain	Qualitative
2014	Vasquez De La Torre et al	Territory	Spain	x
2014	Pavia et al	Demand	Croatia	Quantitative
2015	Alonso & Krajsic	Supply	Australia	Qualitative
2015	Morales et al	Demand	Spain	x
2015	Vasquez De La Torre et al	Territory	Spain	x
2016	Sabbatini et al	Demand	Greece	Quantitativa
2016	López-Guzmán et al	Demand	Spain	Both
2016	Marchini et al	Demand	Italy	Qualitativa
2017	Moral Cuadra et al	Demand	Spain	Both
2017	Campón-Cerro et al	Residents	Spain	Quantitativa
2017	Plieninger & Bieling	Stakeholders	Spain	x
2017	Homrich et al	Territory	Brazil	Qualitative
2017	Vasquez De La Torre et al	Territory	Spain	Both
2017	López-Guzmán et al	Demand	Spain	Both
2018	Ruiz Guerra et al	Demand	Europe, Latin America	Qualitative
2018	Millán et al	Demand	Spain	Both
2018	Tregua et al	Residents	Spain	Qualitative
2018	Yüceer et al	Territory	Cyprus	x
2018	Marano-Marcolini et al	Stakeholders	Spain	x
2019	Pulido-Fernández et al	Demand	x	Qualitative
2019	Folgado-Fernández et al	Demand	Spain	Qualitative
2019	Vehbi et al	Territory	Cyprus	Quantitative
2019	Hernández-Mogollón et al	NA	NA	Qualitative
2019	Bezerra & Correia	Territory	Portugal	Qualitative
2019	Aguilar & García	Territory	Spain	x
2019	Carrillo-Hidalgo et al	Supply	Spain	x
2020	Pulido-Fernández et al	Demand	Spain	Qualitative
2020	Parrilla-González et al	Demand	x	Quantitative
2020	Moral-Cuadra et al	Demand	Spain	Quantitative
2020	D’auria et al	Territory	Spain, Italy, and Croatia	Qualitative
2020	Čehić et al	Territory	Croatia	Qualitative
2021	Millan et al	Demand	Spain	Quantitative
2021	Ferreira & Martín	Territory	Portugal	Qualitative
2021	Murgado-Armenteros et al	Territory	Spain	Quantitative
2021	Almeida & Silveira	Supply	Portugal	Qualitative
2021	Hernández-Mogollón et al	Demand	Euro-Mediterranean vs	x
			non-EU states,
			Lebanon
2021	Čehić et al	Demand	Croatia	Quantitative
2021	Alonso & González	Supply	Spain	Qualitative
2021	Carrillo-Hidalgo et al	Stakeholders	Spain	Qualitative
2021	Pulido-Fernández et al	Supply	Spain	Both
2021	Oplanić et al	Demand	Croatia	Both
2022	Gonçalves et al	Territory	Portugal	Qualitative
2022	Ibáñez & Vicente-Fernández	Supply	Spain	Qualitative
2022	Jimenez et al	Demand	Spain	Both
2022	Dancausa Millán & Vázquez de la Torre, M.G.	Demand	Spain	Both
2022	Dancausa-Millan et al	Demand	Spain	Both
2022	Pulido-Fernández et al	Demand	Spain	Both
2022	Hwang & Quadri-Felitti	Demand	EUA	x
2022	Cusano et al	Demand	Italy	Qualitative
2023	Dancausa Millán et al	Residents	Spain	Quantitative
2023	Campón-Cerro et al	Demand	Spain	Both
2023	Vena-Oya & Parrilla-González	Supply	Spain	Quantitative
2023	Di-Clemente et al	Residents	Spain	Quantitative

Conclusion

37Olive Oil Tourism is a special interest tourism (SIT) involving creative experiences, sustainability awareness, promotion of local culture, boost destination image and spread prestige. The culture surrounding olive oil and pleasure in the whole host of activities related to the product. Also is an activity with great potential for the development of rural territory and is a framework that encourage the new land uses, namely through the valorization of touristic dynamics that rely on the enjoyment of gastronomy and landscape elements, bringing together nature, heritage and culture.

38This type of tourism boosts sustainable destinations capable of introducing and promoting the consumption of local products. It favors the implementation of different activities in rural settings, such as routes through the olive groves, gastronomic markets, educational initiatives, historical events, etc.

39In order to differentiate offer with greater added value, all stakeholders must be aware with 4 Ps: Products, Place, People and Patrimonies, integrating several different kinds of resources (landscape, cultural, economic, gastronomic, architectural, etc) that exist in the territory, which would make possible to create varied, mixed and closed products that allow a more attractive offer.

40Products: Olivotourism should induce entrepreneurs and local authorities to invest in promoting and developing a large range of olive oil products and design creative experiences involving iconic food heritage, such as wine, cheese, ham, sweets, crafts, …

41Place: An intelligent use of territorial capital is fundamental in the promotion of regional development. Olive tourism serves as a complement to other similar types of tourism such as rural tourism or wine tourism. It can generate important benefits for rural development and increasing positive impacts on the geographic area, reuse of traditional olive mills through alternative tourism and the development of thematic heritage routes, olive grove landscape, contributing to the maintenance of cultural heritage and social development.

42People: Olive Oil Tourism allows the multifunctional facets of olive plantations, so that utilization of this existing resources in a sustainable way contributes to an increase in the well-being of the whole rural population and favors the creation of new businesses and qualified jobs. The empowerment of community attachment with visitors is crucial to support local development, transmitting authenticity in the experience and quality of life. On other hand is necessary to identify tourism segments with well-differentiated behaviors, which will help stakeholders, policy makers and destination managers to reach decisions, with a view to adapting their product to the expectations and needs of potential customers.

43Patrimonies: safeguarding food heritage (by gastronomy, culinary, gastronomic events), certified gastronomic routes, preservation of local customs and traditions, and engage visitors on agricultural practices.

44Olive oil tourism has the potential to drive the development of rural areas by generating additional income for farmers with a low level of revenue.