Paris (27%), Tokyo (23%) and Rome (22%) have topped a list of the hottest spots on earth for foodies around the world, while Tokyo (31%) topped the list when it comes to travellers in APAC, according to the Hotels.com® Tasty Travels* report. 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 and Mount Fuji made of seaweed, every city looks good enough to eat.
Looking at Hongkongers, 96% of millennials admitted a destination’s cuisine is the biggest deciding factor when picking where to holiday, with the shopping scene (22%), special offers (18%) and beautiful beaches (17%) being less appetizing. The younger generation in Hong Kong are now even more focused on munching delicious local delicacies on holiday (77%) than visiting landmarks (67%) and exploring the outdoors (18%).
It’s food over friends these days, as 82% Hong Kong millennials admit they prefer to snap their food than their friends’ faces (34%) for Instagram #sorrynotsorry. The research found a gut-busting rise in food photography on social media, as on a week’s holiday, Hong Kong millennial travelers snap on average 194 photos, of which almost a quarter are of food.
The Hotels.com survey also revealed that indulgent dessert like doughnuts, crepes and freak shake (25%) is the food that Hong Kong millennials are most likely to post on social media, followed by steak or meat (23%) and some weird and wacky local delicacies (23%) as well as pasta and pizza (18%). Young travellers in Hong Kong don’t play it safe with their food choices either, as 17% claimed they’d love to try frog legs, or are ready to take food challenges, be it a five-metre pizza or a big bowl of ramen at 1kg (15%)!
To celebrate the mouth-watering combination of food and travel, renowned food artist Carl Warner has created a unique collection of artworks bringing the top foodie destinations to life. Each city scene, captured in HD photography, is deliciously constructed with famous foods from each location. Parisian markets and the Eiffel Tower are built with decadent chocolate and blue cheese; the Pantheon and a cobbled back street in Rome are brought to life with pasta, parma ham and Parmesan cheese; 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. Watch them being built HERE.
Food artist and photographer Carl Warner, said, “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 ‘sight-see’ but ‘sight-taste’.”
The Tasty Travels research also revealed that it’s no longer about the five-star dining experience that costs the same as a house deposit, Hong Kong millennials now prefer street food (23%) to Michelin star restaurants (12%). Eating experiences are in fact now so high on the Millennial travel tick-list, 99% of Hong Kong travelers said foodie experiences stand out the most in their holiday memories. This topped spending time with their travel buddy (28%), and even a cheeky adrenaline activity (15%) #TastyTravels.
Jessica Chuang, Regional Marketing Director of Greater China, Southeast Asia and India from Hotels.com brand comments: “The love amongst Millennial travellers for what we at Hotels.com have dubbed #TastyTravels, stems from food being one of the most connective and rewarding currencies there is. Experiences are the new wealth and food provides one of life’s most pleasurable experiences, where there’s always something new to try when you travel. So, it’s understandable that younger generations of travellers are defining their holiday by what they can eat, how they eat it, and how good the ‘Grams’ will be while they’re away”.
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. Download the Hotels.com mobile app to choose from hundreds of thousands of places to stay in these delicious destinations … get eating! Don’t forget with Hotels.com Rewards you can collect 10 hotel nights and get one free – you’ll most likely spend it scoffing the world’s greatest street food.
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