THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Travel gets tasty

Travel gets tasty

Gastronomy tourism is on its way to becoming the hottest trend, according to Hotel.com, which reveals that Thailand ranks sixth as a dream destination for travellers to visit and taste the mouthwatering foods themselves.

Food and travel is the perfect match according to the website’s Tasty Travels report with Paris, Tokyo  and Rome also topping the list of the hottest spots for foodies. And more than 90 per cent of Thai travellers admitted a destination’s cuisine is the biggest deciding factor when picking where to holiday, with beautiful beaches and the shopping scene regarded as less appetising.
The Tasty Travels research also revealed that Thai millennials love to experience a five-star dining experience as well as local street food. Eating experiences are in fact now so high on the millennial travel ticklist, that 85 per cent of Thais in this age group said gourmet experiences stand out the most in their holiday memories. 
This topped shopping experience and even spending time with their travel buddy! Hotels.com also found that people prefer to snap their food more than selfies. 
“The passion that millennial travellers have for what we at Hotels.com call #TastyTravels, comes from a universal truth – that food is one of life’s greatest pleasures. What’s more, as experiences have become the new social currency, travel opens a door to an amazing array of ‘share worthy’ dishes to try. So, it’s no surprise that younger generation travellers are defining their holidays by what they eat,” said Nelson Allen, general manager, APAC for the Hotels.com brand. 
The survey revealed that the food millennials are most likely to post pictures of pasta and pizza on social media, followed by steak or meat, noodles and weird and wacky local delicacies.
Young travellers don’t play it safe with their food choices either, as one in three claimed they’d love to try eel sushi, chicken feet, crickets  and a deepfried Mars bar. 
Paying tribute to these delicious destinations, Hotels.com has collaborated with food artist Carl Warner to bring foodies’ favourite hangouts to life. Using the city’s famous food ingredients, Parisian buildings made of cheese, the Pantheon made of pasta while a serene zen garden and tea ceremony are imagined with maki rolls, ginger and shiitake mushrooms overlooking Mount Fuji, in Warner’s tribute to Tokyo. 
Each city scene, captured in HD photography, is deliciously constructed with famous foods from each location. 
“When Hotels.com approached me with the idea, I instantly knew this project was right up my bean cobbled, blue cheese street! It was a great opportunity for me to bring images and scenes of these hugely popular foodie destinations to life in an exciting and contemporary way. I hope that these images will not only blow people away, but inspire them to get online, get booking and not just ‘sightsee’ but ‘sighttaste,” Warner said. 
Flavour-chasing travellers in search of inspiration for their next #TastyTravels can head to the Hotels.com Facebook page to see the three delicious artworks by Carl Warner come to life. 
 

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