Culinary Travel: Fueld by the Plate (by Michelle Baran of Travel Weekly)

A thorough story on the culinary tourism marketplace and industry has just been published by Michelle Baran of Travel Weekly.  

Article link:
http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Tour-Operators/Fueled-by-the-plate/?cid=eltrdb


The following are several brief excerpts from Baran's article:

* A decade ago, "you had a situation where food tourism wasn't really [on the map]," said Erik Wolf, who founded the World Food Travel Association in Portland, Ore., in 2003. Today, "it's something where journalists around the world are writing about it. It's really gotten quite big."

* Wolf estimates that food tourism has grown into a $150 billion industry annually, a figure the association came up with based on internal research.

* "The question isn't whether culinary tourism is growing -- which it is, almost exponentially," said CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg. "It's how it's growing. We've evolved from culinary tourism, where travelers merely watched experts in demonstration kitchens, to full-on participatory travel, where travelers get up close and personal with chefs, the products and the process itself. It's travel that embraces a more genuine, authentic experience."

* Currently, culinary travel shows account for approximately 20% of the Travel Channel's programming schedule, which includes offerings such as "Man vs. Food" and "Bizarre Foods."