Skift Take

Over the last decade, the most innovative culinary travel experiences have emphasized the local destination as much as the local food and drink specific to that region. Understand the implications of this shift in our latest trends report.

Today we are launching the latest report in our Skift Trends Reports service, Food Tourism Strategies to Drive Destination Spending.

Smart branding and marketing strategy focused on the local food experience is an absolute imperative for today’s place marketers. Destinations are missing out on longer stays, more repeat visitation, and higher average visitor spending if they’re not packaging and promoting their food tourism product in line with 2016 trends.

Avid food tourists today are also compelled to explore deeper into local neighborhoods beyond the typical tourist scenes. They’ll travel farther away from their hotels for a memorable meal, and they’re more interested and willing to ask probing questions about the process behind the meal’s production. The more unique the culinary experience is, the more unique the travel and destination experience is.

Destination marketing organizations are working with local stakeholders to promote new culinary experiences for a much wider and more segmented audience of food and beverage tourists. They’re also improving their web assets to create new digital campaigns that better align with those segments. It’s all about customizing and personalizing the message to would-be travelers that may hold some affinity to your destination’s brand.

For this report, Skift surveyed the American food traveler to give destination marketers and other local stakeholders a better understanding of what people really relate to when it comes to culinary experience while on the road.

Figure 1: Overall Preferences of the American Culinary Customer

 

Skift Trends Report - Food Survey

Notes: Question: “You’re going on vacation, which ‘foodie tourist’ experience MOST reflects your identity when traveling? N = 2,033 U.S. adult internet population

In the report, we also break down data based on gender, age, income and geography to gain insights on what travelers actually relate to when it comes to food experience. Skift Senior Editor Greg Oates also shares numerous case studies and interview notes from some of the smartest people in food marketing.

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About These Reports

This is the latest in a series of twice-monthly trends reports that brief readers on a specific trend, providing insight into the current state of the market, the context around the trend, and where the industry is heading in the near future.

After you subscribe, you will receive two reports every month — 24 in a year. Reports are available online in a responsive design format, or you can also buy each report a la carte at a higher price.

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Tags: food and drink, food tourism, research reports, tourism

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