New research reveals that culinary exploration now tops cultural and historical sightseeing for British holidaymakers. According to a study by GetYourGuide, 82% of Brits would specifically travel for regional food experiences, compared with 65% who would travel for cultural and historical sightseeing.
Food bookings surge while cultural sites lag
The appetite for food-led travel is reflected in booking behaviour. GetYourGuide data shows food experience bookings have grown 47% year on year, compared with 16% for cultural and historical sites.
The research also highlights how tastes differ across the UK:
- Menus beat monuments: 82% of Brits would travel for regional food, compared with 65% for cultural and historical sightseeing and 38% for outdoor recreation.
- 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.
Chefs and guides see the rise of ingredient-led travel
To explore the rise of ingredient-led travel, GetYourGuide partnered with former Bubala executive chef Helen Graham. Drawing on her passion for provenance and seasonality, she highlights how travelling for ingredients allows people to connect with a destination through its local culture and culinary traditions.
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."
Ingredients worth travelling for
From Greek olive groves to Tuscan truffle hunts, these GetYourGuide experiences bring some of the world's most sought-after ingredients to life. According to the research, these are ten ingredients that Brits say they would travel to discover:
- Olives (50%) – Corfu, Greece Olive Oil Experience
- Tomatoes (48%) – Santorini, Greece Visit Santorini’s old tomato factory
- Truffles (47%) – Florence, Italy San Gimignano truffle hunt
- Saffron (44%) – Abruzzo, Italy Saffron harvest
- Vanilla (42%) – Tenerife, Spain Vanilla cultivation in the Canaries
- Sichuan peppercorns (36%) – Chengdu, China Sichuan Cuisine Museum
- Sardines (36%) – Setúbal, Portugal Local market & canned sardines factory tour
- Wasabi (35%) – Azumino, Japan Wasabi Farm Walking Tour with lunch
- Salt (31%) – Lanzarote, Spain Janubio Salt Flats Guided Tour
- Capers (27%) – Salina, Italy Salina Capers Experience
The findings suggest that food has become a primary motivator for travel, with regional ingredients and culinary experiences increasingly shaping holiday choices for British tourists.
