Eat Your Way Around The World - Hotels.com Reveals The Best Foodie Destinations

Nearly two thirds of American millennials (60%) admitted a destination's cuisine is the biggest deciding factor when picking where to travel, with beautiful beaches (43%), the shopping scene (20%) and special offers (9%) being less appetizing. The younger generation in the U.S. is now even more focused on munching delicious local delicacies on vacation (65%) than visiting landmarks (49%) and exploring the outdoors (34%).

It's food over friends these days, as 78% of millennial U.S. travelers admit they prefer to snap their food instead of their friends' faces (36%) for Instagram #sorrynotsorry. The research also found a gut-busting rise in food photography on social media, revealing that during a week-long vacation, U.S. millennial travelers snap on average 128 photos, of which 15% are of food.

The Hotels.com survey also revealed that pizza (33%) is the food American millennials are most likely to post on social media, followed by juicy steak (25%) and burgers and beers (18%). And they don't play it safe with their food choices either, nearly one in four Americans claimed they'd love to try shark burgers (24%) and nearly one in five would like to eat frogs legs (20%).

To celebrate the mouth-watering combination of food and travel, renowned food artist Carl Warner has created a unique collection of artworks bringing top foodie destinations Paris, Rome and Toyo 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 in the video above.

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; millennials worldwide now prefer street food (20%) to Michelin star restaurants (19%). Eating experiences are in fact now so high on the millennial travel tick-list, 76% of travelers said foodie experiences stand out the most in their vacation memories. This topped spending time with their travel buddy (22%), and even an exciting adrenaline activity (11%) #TastyTravels.

Johan Svanstrom, president of Hotels.com comments: "The love amongst millennial travelers 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 travelers are defining their holiday by what they can eat, how they eat it, and how good the 'Grams' will be while they're away."

Flavor-chasing travelers 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 … and 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 devouring the world's greatest street food.

For further information, imagery or interview requests please contact:
Alex Lee
Phone: (214) 613-0025
Email: [email protected] 

Notes to Editors

*The Tasty Travels survey was conducted by One Poll in March 2018. 9,000 respondents across 29 countries.

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SOURCE Hotels.com

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