New research from GetYourGuide reveals that 82% of Brits would specifically travel for regional food experiences, placing culinary exploration ahead of cultural and historical sightseeing, which drew 65%.
Food bookings grow 47% year on year
The appetite for food-led travel is reflected in booking behaviour, with GetYourGuide data showing food experience bookings have grown 47% year on year, compared with 16% for cultural and historical sites.
The study also highlights regional and demographic differences across the UK. Menus beat monuments: 82% of Brits would travel for regional food, versus 65% for cultural and historical sightseeing and 38% for outdoor recreation.
Younger Brits lead ingredient travel
A taste for discovery starts young: 88% of 25–34-year-olds would travel for a specific ingredient, compared with 46% of over-55s. Londoners have a taste for far-flung flavours: 54% have travelled for an ingredient or food from another country, compared with just 8% of people in Wales.
The way to a man’s holiday is through his stomach: 55% of men have chosen a destination for a specific dish, ingredient, market or culinary experience, compared with 41% of women.
Chef and tour guide weigh in
GetYourGuide partnered with former Bubala executive chef Helen Graham. She said: "I'm thrilled to be partnering with Get Your Guide in order to foster conversations about ingredient provenance which is so important to me. I think travelling for ingredients is on the rise due to people understanding food is so much more than what we eat. It’s about connecting to a place and its culture, as well as a growing movement towards hyper local sourcing and a care for agriculture and farming."
Pascal Becker, a vanilla cultivation tour guide on Tenerife, said: "Most visitors to my experience are initially attracted by vanilla as an exotic and precious ingredient. But they soon discover the story behind it and leave feeling enriched by what they have learned. Seeing the plant, meeting the person behind it, and understanding the ecology and years of effort involved make the story of an ingredient truly tangible. The fact that the experience is rooted in sustainability and offered in small groups makes it all the more meaningful."
Top ingredients Brits would travel for
According to the research, these are ten ingredients that Brits say they would travel to discover: olives (50%) in Corfu, Greece; tomatoes (48%) in Santorini, Greece; truffles (47%) in Florence, Italy; saffron (44%) in Abruzzo, Italy; vanilla (42%) in Tenerife, Spain; Sichuan peppercorns (36%) in Chengdu, China; sardines (36%) in Setúbal, Portugal; wasabi (35%) in Azumino, Japan; salt (31%) in Lanzarote, Spain; and capers (27%) in Salina, Italy.
