Geographic Indication of Origin and Rural Tourism (Example: Futog’s Fresh and Sour Cabbage)

Geographical indication of origin, which identifies a certain product as originating from the territory of a certain country, region or locality from that territory, is also much more than that. By acquiring it, apart from announcing where it comes from, it is made known and publicly announced that the product has a certain quality, which potential users and consumers expect. This would represent one dimension of the geographical indication of origin. Another dimension would certainly be the promotion of the geographical area that has been marked, through different types of tourism - rural, event, spa, etc. The authors of this paper will try to find a connection between the geographical indication of origin of a certain product and the development of tourism in a given area, using the example and available statistical data on Futog’s fresh and sour cabbage, which received its geographical indication of origin by the Decision of the Intellectual Property Office in May 2008.