Culinary Tourism: hot new niche?

[culinarytourism]

Who here understands the whole culinary tourism thing? Australia and Canada are making great strides to this end. I'd like to hear from others in the community how you feel your restaurant/bar fits within the larger travel/hospitality industry picture.

[foodaholic]

Sorry I find it difficult to see how this would impact an individual restaurant,possibly you could shed some light.

A few years back a customer I was talking with said he was refered to our restaurant by a person from New Zealand and this guy was from London. Was told to specifically order the calamari,so from that point on I called it "World Famous Calamari"

In an instant we were in the big picture.LOL

foodaholic

[culinarytourism]

Your question is an excellent one. I've found that many restaurateurs don't immediately see the relationship between F&B and tourism. Let me shed some light:

1. Nearly 100% of tourists dine out when traveling.

2. Dining is consistently one of the top 3 favorite tourist activities.

3. The higher the total dinner bill, the more likely the patrons are tourists.

4. There is a high correlation between tourists who are interested in wine/cuisine and museums, shows, shopping, music and film festivals (which means propensity to stay longer and spend more, perhaps in your restaurant again if they like it).

5. Culinary tourists are highly likely to participate in outdoor recreation. (ditto about staying longer/spending more)

Sources: National Restaurant Assn (U.S.), Travel Industry Assn of America, Canadian Tourism Commission

I'm writing a white paper on the subject that goes into a lot more detail. Let me know if you'd like a copy. It should be done in about a month.

Erik

[Shimmer]

I would check

www.epicurious.com

or

www.foodandwine.com

for examples. I get weekly e-mails, and they are always advertising cool trips to take, either to take actual cooking instruction from pros in other countries, or to take a food tour.

~~Shimmer~~

[cmj]

hi . like most chefs i eat out extensivly when traveling and using either guide books or local knowlegde i choose "destination "restuarants to dine in.
also working in a "destination "restaurant in london we serve a lot of tourists.sunday night is american night ,not a theme to our food but a very high %age of costomers are from the US.
so i would class my self as a foody tourist ,my best mealaway from home was at nobu in newyork . any one else got any favourites