Either for work or pleasure, when it comes to booking travel, I have a stringent routine: Book flight, book hotel, and hit TripAdvisor to look where the highest-rated eats are at my destination.
Why not? I’m traveling for few days and I have to eat. Why wouldn’t I make the most of the opportunity to try something novel and learn what makes that location different from others?
I’m not the only traveler who proposes trips related to food, and as the World Food Travel Association (WFTA) notes, it’s happening even more. Citing its 2016 Food Travel Monitor, the organization states that 80 percent leisure travelers visited destination keeping in mind certain culinary activity or attraction.
For sweets shops, restaurants, breweries and wineries, now social media makes it even easier to share their stories, new products and specials — or have visitors do it for them. Who doesn’t check a restaurant’s rating before dining? And if I had a dime for every time I get attracted to a delicious-looking photo on Instagram, I’d have enough money to try everything I’ve seen.
This shows immense opportunity for independent food businesses. However, being local and offering high-quality products aren’t all that attracts food-minded tourists. Now that’s the baseline, the WFTA contends in a new report.
Last fall, the WFTA questioned tourism and hospitality industries experts seeking insights on the significance of food tourism, along with what’s working and what’s not. Responding experts say there’s room for development.
Particularly, the experts rated 1 through 5 the significance of certain specific benefits for food tourists and how accurately they thought the industry was achieving.
