Travel with an Appetite

2007-08-14 00:00

"Culinary tourism has reached the tipping point as a niche and an industry," says Erik Wolf, president and CEO of Culinary Tourism Association.

For some people, travel means more than sunny beaches, dazzling sights and a shopping spree. They are hitting the road to satiate their cravings for authentic cuisine from other areas of the country, or even of the world. The food they search for might be famous or low-profile, but the one thing that is for sure is that only palate-pleasers will appear on their radars.

No matter what culinary indulgence they are searching for, it is only a flight away. A recent Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) study found that 58 percent of all American leisure travelers say they are somewhat or very interested in taking a trip to engage in culinary or wine-related activities.

Lisa Gensheimer, a documentary producer and travel writer, calls culinary tourism "a new name for something that people have liked to do for a long time, but didn't really put a name on it." She recently started writing the twice-weekly column “The Culinary Tourist” about those delicious trips for the social networking site Gather.com. Today's culinary tourists are, basically, people who travel to places and try to eat them. And you will be hearing more about culinary tourism, as tourism agencies cook up programs and promotions to feed that appetite.

Culinary tourism was defined as "travel to learn about or enjoy unique and memorable eating-and-drinking experiences" in a survey of 2,364 leisure travelers released last month by the TIA. The study, which was co-sponsored by the National Restaurant Association with Gourmet magazine and the International Culinary Tourism Association, shows this "emerging phenomenon" is "taking hold in the American vocabulary." It noted that one-quarter of all leisure travelers say that food is central to choosing their destination, and that number increases to 51 percent for "culinary travelers"—“those engaging in culinary activities during leisure trips."

The study also shows that out of all leisure travelers, 17 percent, or about 27.3 million people, have participated in food or wine activities—cooking classes, farmer’s markets, winery tours, food festivals—on trips in the past three years. Of these, 46 percent, or 12.6 million, are deliberate culinary travelers, for whom such activities are the primary reason for the trip or are figured in to the choice of destination. And as stands to reason, these deliberate culinary travelers eat and drink a large portion of their travel dollars.

This led International Culinary Tourism Association president and CEO Erik Wolf to comment, "Culinary tourism has reached the tipping point as a niche and an industry." Pennsylvania's Deputy Secretary for Tourism Mickey Rowley said that his office's excitement about culinary tourism centers on finding ways to enhance travelers' experiences in the state with unique foods that reveal Pennsylvania 's history and character. That could include local specialties such as ham and leek soup, a firehouse dinner staple in Potter County in the so-called Pennsylvania Wilds. The tourism department is considering ways to put on the soup, as well as its story on more local menus.

The tourism office also plans to meet with dozens of chefs who own or work at Pennsylvania inns to share ideas on local foods. Down the road, the tourism office may even seek foundation support to start an online marketplace where customers could buy local Pennsylvania treats.

Top 10 Food-related Travel Destinations:

California

Florida

New York

Texas

North Carolina

Louisiana

Illinois

Nevada

Pennsylvania