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Increasing awareness for different cultural cuisines has led to the rise of food trucks, which has been great for locals and tourists alike.

Recently, we launched a new FREE Skift Travel Trends Report, The Rise of Food Tourism, brought to you in association with Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance.

Below is an extract from it. You can download the full report here for all the goodness.

According to the Technomic report, ”Understanding the Foodservice Attitudes & Behaviors of Millennials,” researchers found that 88% of American millennials surveyed are interested in trying new types of food.

“Destinations creating new experiences, whether it be a festival, food trail or tour, need to think about the millennial consumer and what’s important to them,” says LeHeup. “It’s very different from previous generations, and I think programming has to evolve to take them into consideration.”

One very visible indication of this is the explosion of food trucks in cities around the world. According to Ypulse, 47% of millennials have eaten at a food truck before.18 In Portland, the food truck scene has taken on legendary proportions with more than 500 trucks, changing the urban landscape while encouraging sustainability, community, creativity and entrepreneurship. In Austin, there are even tours dedicated solely to visiting food trucks.

The food truck industry is rapidly ascending up the food tourism value chain. Food trucks are expected to generate about $2.7 billion in revenue in the U.S. by 2017 according to Intuit’s report, “Food Trucks Motor Into the Mainstream.” This is a fourfold increase from 2012, as estimated by the National Restaurant Association.

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These one-stop, four-wheel shops with signature dishes from literally every corner of the world are now being integrated into major events and festivals as a way to attract young attendees, increase spend and cater to every taste bud.

Increasing awareness for different cultural cuisines has led to the rise of food trucks, while at the same time, increased access to food trucks has raised awareness of different cultures’ signature dishes. The mobile restaurants are also contributing to the rise in food-related media both on social networks and major television channels. For example, the Food Network introduced Eat Street in 2011 to appeal to viewers’ interest in food truck culture.

Last month, we launched a new FREE Skift Travel Trends Report, The Rise of Food Tourism, brought to you in association with Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance. Above was an extract from it. You can download the full report here for all the goo

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Tags: food and drink, food tourism

Photo credit: Food trucks at an event in Fort Mason in San Francisco. Daniel Hoherd / Flickr

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