Food tourism is exactly what it sounds like: people travelling for something to eat or drink that feels rooted in the place they’re visiting. Sometimes that’s a reservation at a destination restaurant, or it can be a morning spent grazing through the neighbourhood with a guide to learn why a city cooks the way it does and meeting the people behind the produce.
For operators, it’s one of the most practical ways to grow without reinventing your business. Social media trends and a desire to build itineraries around “only here” experiences have pushed food and drink to the forefront of visitor activities, so whether you run a café, pub kitchen, bakery, or restaurant, the opportunity to put your business on the tourist-trail is yours for the taking.
There are two main routes into food tourism:
- You become the destination – tourists choose you because your menu, setting, story, or signature dish feels inseparable from the place.
- You become part of an experience – tourists encounter you through a structured product like a food tour, a tasting trail, producer visit, or cookery class.
Both routes reward the same fundamentals: strong storytelling, smooth service at pace, and clear information for guests who don’t know the local food vocabulary yet.
Understanding food tours
Food tours solve a choice-overload problem for tourists. In an unfamiliar city, a guided route turns “Where do we even start?” into a paid plan with built-in local knowledge. For operators, they can be a steady midweek revenue stream, a way to reach travellers early in their trip, and promotion when a guide tells your story for you. Whether you’re one of the stops, or you’re building a tour in your own area, the “food + history + local character” format is what travellers book.
Flexible and adaptable, food tours are not just for cities. The Burren Food Trail in County Clare connects visitors with local food and the producers behind it. Ireland has promoted
this concept nationally through Taste the Island, which highlights food and drink experiences across the country and encourages operators to participate.
At Spirit and Spice in the Highlands, food and drink experiences are centred around the landscape and a sense of “off-the-beaten-track” adventure. It started with accommodation and evolved into cookery classes and hosted experiences in a home kitchen. The common thread is that visitors aren’t only buying lunch. They’re buying access, insight, and a feeling of place.
Getting started
Whether you are looking to define your business as the destination, or want to create your own food tour, start with one clear promise such as “seafood and stories from the local harbour” rather than “a culinary journey” to give tourists something specific to be attracted to. It is also important to design your service for visitors, not regulars. Visitors often want earlier dining times, clearer directions, and a sense of what’s local without feeling embarrassed to ask, so make sure you put the basics on your website and booking pages.
The next step is to design the experience from start to finish and practice it before you go-live. Think of producing a run-list, such as a welcome drink, followed by a story, then some food and some recommendations of where to visit. You can also partner with local producers to create a comprehensive package. “Build your cuisine around local knowledge, seasonality, and strong relationships with producers. Having these authentic connections will really shine through to your guests,” recommends Petar Bebek, Chef, Maslina Resort.
Dietary requirements and allergens must also be thought about. Tourists are more likely to ask “Can you do…” because they can’t risk being unwell away from home.
Once you have a concept ready, partner with tourism bodies. VisitBritain, VisitScotland, Fáilte Ireland and local destination management organisations actively promote food-led experiences, but they need ready-to-sell products or concepts.
Taking a global view
Food tourism isn’t a new invention. Some worldwide destinations have been refining it for decades, building structured experiences around markets, street food, wine regions, and family kitchens, so there’s plenty to borrow and adapt.
In Italy, Bologna markets itself as La Grassa, the fat one. Visitors arrive expecting pasta, ragù, mortadella and Parmigiano Reggiano. The city leans into that identity with cookery schools that offer hands-on pasta making classes.
Focusing on what your region does best, often taps into the reason why tourists visit. “Our cuisine highlights seasonal island ingredients, such as fresh Adriatic fish and seafood caught by local fisheries, Hvar olive oil, aromatic herbs, and local vegetables,” says Peter. “We also have a 7,000 sqm Organic Garden where we grow a vast amount of our own produce and where our guests can partake in foraging and learn more about local ingredients”
Alternatively, in Napa Valley, wine tastings have been transformed into full-day, bookable experiences. Visitors don’t just drink wine, they meet winemakers, walk vineyards, and learn about terroir. Tastings are tiered, often paired with food, and priced accordingly.
Food tours don’t have to be about traditional cuisine, in Melbourne, the city positions itself as a multicultural food capital. Food tours explore Greek precincts, Vietnamese bakeries, Italian delis and speciality coffee roasters within a compact area.
Many cities already have strong multicultural food identities. Birmingham’s Balti Triangle, Bradford’s South Asian cuisine, or Liverpool’s historic links to global trade. These aren’t side notes – they can be framed as cultural narratives that attract visitors. We are fortunate to already have great raw ingredients, the opportunity lies in shaping them into experiences that travellers can recognise, book and remember.
Considerations for signing up to an existing food tour
Treat it like a trade relationship and agree on:
- A reliable time window and the ability to serve quickly
- A defined tasting that won’t change every day
- A price that works for both sides, with clear terms on commission or net rates
- A short, accurate story the guide can tell consistently
Make the tasting work for your kitchen with one or two items unique to you:
- Build the portion to be eaten standing or moving if needed
- Batch prep where possible, but don’t compromise quality
- Agree dietary and allergen processes in writing
- Decide how photos and social tags will be used because tours can be strong content engines
