According to GlobalData, many tourist boards have started focusing more on their cuisines in order to gain a competitive advantage over their rival destinations.

GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, says that many tourist boards have started to shift their attention towards their local cuisines rather than traditional hotspots and places in order to attract travellers and set themselves back as top travel destinations.

According to GlobalData’s Ads Database, Turkey, Malta, and Indonesia’s Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) have opted to promote their national cuisines to boost cultural appeal and entice new tourists through marketing campaigns that feature alluring pictures and short videos covering traditional cooking methods. The development of these marketing campaigns appears to be in response to the growing demand for international cuisine and culinary experiences and DMOs have started using this to gain a competitive advantage over rival destinations.

“DMOs appear to be reacting to a change in traveller sentiment towards gastronomy. Development of this trend has been brought on by the pandemic, which has helped broaden the palates of many tourists despite the closure of many restaurants during 2020 and 2021,” says Craig Bradley, Associate Travel & Tourism Analyst at GlobalData.

“Many restaurants needed to adapt to pandemic restrictions to survive, so they started selling meals via food delivery services such as Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats. These services have made international cuisines more accessible to consumers than ever before due to their low-touch service offering, intuitive smartphone apps, and efficient mobile payment systems. As a result, global awareness of alternative international cuisines has increased considerably enabling tourist boards to utilise this in attractive marketing campaigns to entice potential tourists” Bradley adds.

True to what Bradley says and a 2021GlobalData Food Insights & Trends report, it seems this trend is unlikely to slow with the food delivery market set to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7 pc between 2021 and 2025. As a result, millions of individuals will continue to sample new cuisines and flavours from their local restaurants.

According to a GlobalData Q4 2021 Global Consumer Survey, 47 pc of respondents have said that they find the broader availability of cuisines the most appealing reason to consume food and drink outside of the home. This highlights the global appetite of people wanting to experience new flavours and giving reason to assume that the same sentiment will apply to tourists within a destination. It seems many visitors will be enthusiastic about encountering local culture and customs, including food and drink.

In response to this development in consumer tastes Bradley sheds light on how tourist boards having recognised this as an opportunity to use regional cuisine to create original marketing campaigns that can convey local culture within the tourist experience. They believe this will be particularly attractive to niche tourists and millennial tourists, who are typically known to seek unique experiences.

“It is important to note that linking destination marketing with gastronomic experiences is nothing new. Still, this type of promotional strategy is likely to grow in importance for DMOs as shown by Malta, Indonesia and Turkey, due to consumers becoming more exposed to culinary experiences” Bradley concludes.