
Economic impact of expenditures by visitors on food and beverage
Defining Food Tourism Industry Stakeholders
There are 20 interrelated sectors in the food tourism industry
cluster. This includes food and beverage businesses, travel and hospitality
businesses and some other related businesses and organizations such as
governments, media, and academia. The World Food Travel Association acts to
coalesce these sectors to form an industry cluster.
Food Tourism and
Economic Impact
Estimating the economic impact of food & beverage tourism is
at best, very difficult. Over the years, through our own research, secondary
research, interviews and conversations, we have constructed our own impression
of the value of food tourism. By our estimate, visitors spend approximately 25%
of their travel budget on food and beverages. The figure can get as high as 35%
in expensive destinations, and as low as 15% on more affordable destinations.
Confirmed food lovers also spend a bit more than the average of 25% spent by
travelers in general.
Take the estimated economic impact of visitors to your area and
multiply it by 25%. That is your estimated economic impact of expenditures by
visitors on food and beverage.
Research from our 2020 Food Travel Monitor proves that now 96%
of travelers can now be considered food travelers. By “food travelers”, we mean
travelers who had participated in a food or beverage experience other than
dining out, at some time in the past 12 months.
Discover who your own area’s food travelers are with our
custom PsychoCulinary Profiling Research.
Food travelers are
explorers
·
They attend a cooking schools, participate in a food tour, or go
shopping in a local grocery or gourmet stores.
·
They visit food or beverage factories, participate in
wine/beer/spirits tastings, and of course, eat out in unique or memorable
foodservice establishments.
·
They’ll visit a chocolatier, bakery or gelateria to sample what
makes the area famous.
·
They love to get off the beaten path and find the new (or new
for us), unique or undiscovered experiences.