Millions Of Travelers Plan Their Vacations Around Food

42% of the respondents feel nervous about visiting a country where they don’t know about the food choices and 23% report that their bucket list has more foods to try on it than destinations. While on vacation 49% of the respondents like to dine at local independent restaurants, and 21% enjoy sampling the selections from street vendors. 9% of the respondents say that they put in a great deal of work to research where to eat before they travel abroad. 

It appears as if people are a bit more adventurous about their food choices while on vacation as well with 40% saying that they are more likely to try out local cuisines and 12% saying that they seek out food options that they are more familiar with. 69% of the respondents want to experience a more authentic travel experience by trying local cuisine, and 37% say they do it to make sure that they are getting the freshest food available. 26% of the respondents feel that dining at local independent restaurants is an opportunity to help the local economy, and 26% feel that it is a good opportunity to interact with locals. 

Among the food options that have been sampled 26% reported trying octopus, 14% have tried frog legs, and 4% have even tried eating grasshoppers. Foods that the British respondents say that they generally would never try at home that are most popular among travelers include Polish, Portuguese and Scandinavian meals. While the top food-based destinations of choice include Italy, Spain, France, Greece, and Portugal. 

“One thing that’s clear from our research is that, as a nation, we can get quite comfortable travelling to the same destinations over and over again,” says Rachel Swift, chief customer officer for Tesco Mobile.

According to this survey, the top 20 European cuisines that people are willing to travel for are (listed in order of top to bottom): Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, the Canary Islands, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Malta, Austria, Sweden, Poland, the Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland, Croatia, Norway, and the Jersey Channel Islands.