Overview
In its broadest sense, Culinary Tourism is defined as the pursuit of unique and memorable culinary experiences of all kinds, often while traveling, but one can also be a culinary tourist at home.
The phrase "unique and memorable" is key to understanding culinary tourism. Many times people hear "culinary tourism" and they think it means restaurants that have earned 5 stars or better, or high-end wineries. That is not the case, as culinary tourism is not exclusively what is pretentious or exclusive. Culinary Tourism includes a local pastry shop, an interesting bar on a nameless street that only locals know about, the pretzel vendor on the streets of New York City, or a gelato vendor on a historic street in Italy. Higher-end experiences fall into a subset of culin
ary tourism called "Gourmet Tourism". In fact, wine tourism, beer tourism and spa cuisine are also subsets of culinary tourism.
Culinary Tourism is not agritourism. While the seeds of cuisine are in agriculture, and agriculture and cuisine are inextricably linked, the two are very different. Agritourism is a subset of rural tourism, while cuisine is a subset of cultural tourism, as cuisine is a manifestation of culture.
Culinary Tourism includes culinary experiences of all kinds. It's much more than dining guides and restaurant weeks. It encompasses cooking schools, cookbook and kitchen gadget stores, culinary tours and tour leaders, culinary media and guidebooks, caterers, wineries, breweries, distilleries, food growers and manufacturers, culinary attractions and more. Authenticity is also of critical importance to culinary tourists.
While we say that one pursues these experiences while traveling, local residents can be culinary tourists in their own town. How often do we get set in our ways, frequenting our same favorite restaurants or rarely leaving our neighborhoods? Making the effort to trek across town to try an interesting new place is indeed culinary tourism.
History
In 2011 the Culinary Tourism industry celebrated its 10th anniversary since the publication of the white paper on culinary tourism, which is generally regarded as the industry's founding date. The white paper that set the tone and stage for what would become the International Culinary Tourism Association and lead to the development of the world's culinary tourism industry (the white paper later evolved into the Association's first book). Prior to 2001, academics around the world had been faithfully researching culinary tourism and wine tourism. However, that body of research rarely, if ever, found its way into the business world. It is, in fact, researcher Lucy Long, from Bowling Green University in Ohio (USA) who first coined the term "culinary tourism" back in 1998. Then in 2003, under the guidance of a group of industry advisors, Erik Wolf founded the International Culinary Tourism Association which had just over 16,000 members in 76 countries as of 2011. Over time, the Association grew in breadth and scope of programs offered and now includes education, development consulting and publishing divisions.
Today
Since its true birth as an industry in 2003, culinary tourism has grown exponentially every year, as measured by a number of indicators. First the number of consumers interested in the subject matter has grown which is documented by the increase in culinary travel shows on television. One sees food shows on travel channels and travel shows on food channels. There continues to be a strong cross-over of these industries.
In recent years, the ICTA has seen an enormous surge in the number of destinations exploring culinary tourism. This can mean organizing a seminar or workshop for their members, culinary tourism product development, or culinary tourism promotion that includes culinary tourism as an important part of their strategic marketing plans.
The growth in the range of the ICTA's products and services is also a strong indicator of the strong interest by the foodservice and tourism industries. In 2003, we saw no requests for culinary tourism product development and marketing assistance. Today, we see such requests on a very regular basis.
The Value
IS IT A FAD?
Unless people stop eating and drinking, culinary tourism will never cease to be popular. Look at how ecotourism gained a foothold and is now part of the sustainable tourism development strategies of nations all around the world. Unless your business or destination is a global household name, most of the world probably does not about your great food and drink!
FIVE REASONS WHY CULINARY TOURISM SHOULD MATTER TO YOU
In 2007, the International Culinary Tourism Association, in partnership with the Travel Industry Association of America and Gourmet Magazine, commissioned the first culinary tourism research ever about the United States. While we acknowledge that the research focused on behavior of Americans, the findings were comparable to culinary tourism research performed in other countries, notably Canada, Australia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. As it turns out, culinary travelers are similar in demographic and psychographic profiles in almost every country for which studies exist. The top five reasons why culinary tourism should be of importance to you and your business or destination are:
1. 100% OF PEOPLE EAT OUT WHILE TRAVELING
It seems obvious, but because of the ubiquity of eating, we forget the importance of food. Travelers buy lodging once per day and perhaps one or two souvenirs per trip. Travelers buy meals three times per day. Cuisine is an attraction that has the potential to reach the largest possible customer base for your business or destination.
2. CULINARY TRAVELERS SPAN ALL ETHNIC GROUPS
Everyone likes to eat. We can show you how to develop and promote your culinary products for all demographic and psychographic groups.
3. CULINARY TRAVELERS SPAN ALL AGE GROUPS
Many times businesses focus on "baby boomers" or "dual income no kids" target market groups. While these targets are worthwhile, savvy marketers should not forget two additional important groups: the growing senior market, which is more active than ever before, and the younger student/generation Y group, which will become tomorrow's high income and highly sought middle aged market. 4. CULINARY TRAVELERS SPAN BOTH GENDERS Old stereotypes of who should play cook in the kitchen, or who decides to eat, are long gone. Men and women enjoy cooking and eating well equally.
4. CULINARY TRAVELERS TEND TO BE BETTER EDUCATED
Our research shows that culinary enthusiasts tend to have more education than non-enthusiasts.
5. CULINARY TRAVELERS SPAN VARIOUS INCOME LEVELS
Culinary travelers are explorers. Our research showed that the largest percentage of culinary travelers was from people with average incomes. Gourmet enthusiasts only comprise less than 9% of all foodies. That said, culinary travelers do tend to spend more on food while traveling. Serious culinary tourists spend up to 50% of their travel budgets on food-related activities (compared to 20-30% for non-culinary travelers). No matter whether you have a small and modest cookbook store or a glamorous restaurant, culinary travelers are interested in both kinds of experiences.