Taste the world: Measuring travelers’ preferences for food and drink festivals

New consumer research from YouGov delves into the world of travel tastes, focusing on people who seek out food and drink festivals on vacations.

From the bustling markets of Asia to beer celebrations in Europe to America’s diverse culinary landscape, the global fascination with food and drink festivals is a powerful draw for a significant share of travelers.

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Using Global Travel Profiles, YouGov's travel-specific audience intelligence and destination tracking tool, let’s explore the market culinary tourism among leisure travelers from 30 markets.

According to YouGov data, 14% of leisure travelers from the 30 markets surveyed say their favorite type of travel is one that involves visiting food and drink festivals. Let’s look closely at where food and drink tourists come from.

APAC

Asia emerges as a hotbed for food and drink festival enthusiasts, with a quarter of Malaysian (25%) Indonesian (25%) and Filipino (24%) travelers showing a strong preference for this type of vacation experience.

More than a tenth of Australian travelers (13%) also exhibit a preference for food and drink festivals.

MENA and India

Around a fifth or more of MENA travelers from the UAE (22%) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (22%) express a penchant for traveling for food festivals. Travelers from India also showcase a notable appetite for culinary adventures (22%)

North America

Travelers from the US (13%) and Canada (11%) show a strong level of interest in food and drink festivals while Mexican travelers (5%) seem less drawn to this type of vacation experience.

Europe

European markets show varying degrees of interest but nearly all of them sit on the bottom half of the list. Travelers from Norway (8%), Sweden (7%), Finland (7%) and the UK (7%) display the strongest level of interest in food and drink festivals.

On the other hand, travelers from Denmark (4%), the Netherlands (4%), France (3%) and Germany (3%) are among the least likely to say they typically travel for food and drink festivals.

Photo by K X I T H V I S U A L S on Unsplash